
II1SS 



LIBRARY tit CONGRESS. 

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Shelf. ,K&5 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



PSALMS, SONGS, PJIAYERS, PROVERBS, PROPHECIES. 



THE 



FIFTH 



OR 



SENIOR TEAR 



OF THE 

GJ-PfcADTJATElD 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEXT-BOOKS. 



Jt 




CHARLES E. KNOX, 

Author of "A Year with St. Paul. ' 

NEW-YORK: 

A. INT S O 1ST D. IF . RANDOLPH, 
770 Broadway. 

1868 




3> 



J \& > 



Y\6' 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 186^ by 
A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 



• . 



In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New- York. 



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3?3/2_ 



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IOTKODTJCTIOK 



The Fifth or Senior Year completes the Five Years' course 
of memorizing Scripture, occupying the years between the oral 
instruction of the Infant Department and the toxical instruction 
of the Bible-Class. To give a little dignity to the course in the 
child's mind, as well as to give him the ideas of advance and 
promotion from year to year, the first of the five years has been 
called the Primary Year, and the last the Senior Year, making 
for him a rounded, graduated course before he steps upon the 
high plane of Bible-class topics. 

The Scripture selections of the Senior Year are taken entirely 
from the Old Testament, but there is a constant reference 
throughout the lessons to the New. Those psalms, songs, 
prayers, proverbs, and parts of prophecy have been selected 
which will be the rich and unfailing source of illumination and 
strength to the convert all through life. Their one word to the 
unconverted, too, is Come. 

The illustrations and the spirit of the questions have been 
largely gathered from many old and new evangelical writers. 
This general acknowledgment is designed to supply the place 
of quotation-points throughout the book. r 

By comparison with the Primary Year a very wide advance 
from the lessons of that book will be seen ; yet the ascent is so 
gradual that every faithful scholar, it is believed, will, without 
difficulty, master these concluding studies. So important is the 
principle of gradual and easy ascent, that these lessons will be 
much easier to scholars who have been regularly and thoroughly 
through the course, than to those who have pursued mere de- 
sultory lessons. The illustrations, which help to make a lesson 
seem long on the page, will prove, it is believed, short in the 
reading. 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

The author cannot say too earnestly that these books are not 
designed to be the chief reliance or the chief guide of the teacher 
in his preparation. Much has been said against question-books, 
because they are thought to be the teacher's book. Let it be un- 
derstood that the books of this series are the children's books. 
One of the chief objects of the system, which should not be lost 
sight of, is to stir the child's mind by suggestions and incite- 
ments to his thought, to a lorn of study at home, and to create in 
him a growing habit and a growing fondness for independent 
study of the Scriptures. 

The teacher who relies on the question-book only for his pre- 
paration or in the class does what a teacher in a secular school 
does, who never informs himself outside the one arithmetic or 
geography which he puts into the child's hand. The arithmetic 
and the geography and these text-books are the child's Jielp to 
the comprehension of what is yet above him ; and the teacher's 
information and his instruction are to come from a wide acquain- 
tance with the subject outside the book. 

And therefore let the teacher not fail to urge every thing 
which helps form the child's mind in a habit of Scripture study. 
Let him insist in every instance that the references he found and 
read, not simply for the sake of the reference itself, but for the 
habit acquired. There is hardly a book in the Bible which is 
not referred to in the Third, Fourth, and Senior Years ; and a 
constant attention to the reference, therefore, will make the Bible 
familiar as a spelling-book to his mind. Let the teacher insist, 
too, upon the reviews as much as possible. Let him never fail 
to require the committal of the Scripture to memory. 

The value of a gradual systematic advance and ascent in such 
a course will not be perceived fully until the scholar comes near 
the end of the course. The accumulation of the system is then 
seen in clearness, order, and power. Conversion is to be confi- 
dently expected, and the development of intelligence, strength, 
and skill in Christian character. No teacher is doing his work 
rightly who does not aim steadily at two things, the conversion 
of his scholar, and to make him wise and powerful — through 
God's book — in converting others. 4 

Bloomfield, N. J., September, 1867. 



THE SEKTOK YEAR 



• • 



Jfirst jsfmtbzro, 

THE FIRST PSALM. 

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scorn- 
ful: 

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord ; and in his law doth he 
meditate day and night. 

3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that 
bringeth forth his fruit in his season : his leaf also shall not wither ; and 
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.. 

4. The ungodly are not so : but are like the chaff which the wind driv- 
eth away. 

5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in 
the congregation of the righteous. 

6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous : but the way of the 
ungodly shall perish. 

The psalms are the songs which were sung in the tabernacle 
or the temple at Jerusalem. They were sung or chanted when 
the sacrifices were burned, and at other times of prayer and 
praise. If you would like to know how they came to be writ- 
ten, turn to the sixteenth chapter of the first book of Chroni- 
cles, and you will find a psalm which King David wrote for 
the singers, when he brought the ark of God into the taberna- 
cle. Look into the fifteenth chapter, from the twenty-fifth to 
the twenty-eighth verse, and you will see that, when David and 
the elders and the captains went to bring the ark to Jerusalem, 
King David himself and the Levites, who carried the ark, and 



6 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

all the singers, were clothed with white robes, and that they 
had instruments of music — harps and psalteries and cymbals 
and trumpets and cornets. In the seventh verse of the sixteenth 
chapter, you will read that 4 on that day David delivered first 
this psalm to Asaph,' the leader of the singers ; and then, if 
you will turn to the one hundred and fifth psalm, you will find 
the first part of that psalm is the first part of the psalm in 
this chapter. 

After the psalm was sung and the ark put into the taberna- 
cle, David appointed singers to sing and to play on the trum- 
pet and cymbal and other instruments of music, during the 
worship of the tabernacle, as you may read from the thirty- 
seventh to the forty-third verse of the chapter. Afterwards 
David appointed more than two hundred Levites to sing and to 
play in God's house. 

You may find out how the psalms were sung or chanted in 
the temple in the twenty-ninth chapter of the second book of 
Chronicles, in the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth verses, 
where it is said that, 4 when the burnt-offering began, the song 
of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and with the instru- 
ments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congre- 
gation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters 
sounded : and all this continued until the burnt-offering was 
finished.' 

You may see how sometimes the procession of singers and 
musicians went into the sanctuary, in the sixty-eighth psalm, 
in the twenty-fourth and twenty -fifth verses : ' The singers went 
before, the players on instruments followed after ; among 
them were the damsels playing with timbrels.' 

What are the psalms ? 

Were they sung as we sing our psalms and hymns ? 

Who went in the procession when King David brought 
the ark into the tabernacle ? 

What musical instruments did they have ? 

Where in the book of Psalms is the psalm which 
David gave them that day ? 



THE SENIOR YEAE. 7 

After David had brought the ark into the tabernacle, 
how did he provide music for the worship ? 

At what time was the singing or chanting in the tem- 
ple ? 

How many psalms are there in the book of Psalms ? 

Did King David write all the psalms in the book of 
Psalms ? 
What does the first word of the first psalm mean ? 

What part of our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount 
begins with the same word ? 

What kind of a man does this verse say is blessed ? 

If you will look, now, through the psalm, you will see that 
the first verse tells three things which such a blessed man will 
not do ; the second verse shows two things which he will do ; 
the third verse shows what he is like; the fourth verse shows 
what kind of men are not like Mm ; and the fifth and sixth 
verses show what will become of those unlike this blessed 
man. 

What three things does this first verse say that such 
a blessed man will not do ? 

If a man does not do a thing while he is standing or 
walking or sitting, can he ever do it ? 

What is the difference between * the ungodly,' ■ the 
sinner,' and 4 the scornful ' ? 

What is meant by walking in the counsel of the un- 
godly ? Answer. Following the advice of the ungodly, 
as if a person should hear a company of wicked men 
planning a wicked crime, and should walk along with 
them, or should even walk away from them, thinking 
how he could take part in it 

What is meant by standing 'in the way of sinners' ? 
Answer. Standing in the place where wicked men stand 
to talk about wicked things, or to do wicked things. 

What is meant by sitting 4 in the seat of the scorn- 
ful' ? Answer. Sitting in company with those who 
scoff at good things. 



8 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What are the {wo things which the second verse says such 
a blessed man does f 

Which does 'the law of the Lord 7 mean, the Ten 
Commandments, or some single law of God, or the 
whole Scriptures ? 

Which is meant, that the law is one thing in which 
he finds pleasure, or that it is his chief delight ? 
What is it to meditate f 



A law of God may not seem to have much in it till we begin 
to think of it. If you read over the law, Thou shalt not steal, 
there may not seem to be much in it ; but if you stop and 
meditate, saying to yourself, This does not sa}?-, Thy hand shall 
not steal, although the hand is what men generally steal with, 
but it says, Thou shalt not steal ; and if you then think who 
is meant by Thou, the soul, the spirit in me, then there seems 
to be much more in this law than there was at first. 

When it says that the good man meditates ' day and 
night' in God's law, does that mean that he thinks of 
God's law at every moment, every day and every night ? 
What does the third verse say that such a man is like ? 

Why is a tree planted by the river-side any better 
than any other tree ? Read Jeremiah xvii : 7, 8. 

What is meant by * his fruit in his season' ? 

A. tree that bears its fruit in the proper season, and never 
disappoints its owner, is a good and prosperous tree. 

If the leaf of a tree does not wither, what does it 
show about the health and life of the tree ? 

When it is said that such a man is like such a tree, 
is it meant that his outward life or inward life is like 
• the tree ? 
Who does the fourth verse say are not like this blessed 
man ? 

What does the word 'ungodly' mean? Answer. Un- 
gocl-like ; not like God. 

4 The ungodly are not so' : not how ? 



TIIE SENIOR YEAR. 9 

If you will read Jeremiah xvii : 5, G, you will see to what 
kind of a tree the wicked are likened. Bad men sometimes 
appear very prosperous, like a beautiful tr^Q ; but their tree 
is planted in a sandy and salty desert, where they may look 
fair only for a while. 

But with what does this verse compare the wicked f 

The good are like a tree whose leaves never wither ; but the 
wicked are even worse than withered leaves : they are chaff. 

You should think of the threshing-floors of Palestine. On 
the flat top of a knoll, over which the wind blows briskly, the 
farmer with his fork is throwing up his grain for the wind 
to blow out the chaff and the chaff-dust. The meaning is, 
that the wicked have no firm, strong place in the sight of God. 

Does the verse mean that the outward life of a bad 
man, or the life of his soul, is not firm ? 
What does the fifth verse show will become of the wicked ? 
What is meant by * the judgment ' ? 

The good and the bad are mingled together in this world, 
but in God's judgment of them now the wicked do not stand ; 
and in the day of judgment they will not stand. 

What is meant by ' congregation of the righteous ' ? 
Answer. God's people. 
What does the sixth verse say is the reason why sinners 
shall not stand in the judgment? 

The work of bad men seems to be as prosperous as that of 
good men, but God sees and knows both them and their work. 
God knows the way of the righteous, that is, God attends to 
and provides for the righteous. 

How can the way of the wicked perish t Read 
Psalm cxlvi : 9. 
What way is there so that wicked men may not perish ? 
Read John xiv : 6. 



10 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

S^antr Simbair. 

THE THIRD PSALM. 

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. 

1. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me ! many are they that 
rise up against me. 

2. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in 
God. Selah. 

3. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me ; my glory, and the lifter up. 
of mine head. 

4. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his 
holy hill. Selah. 

5. I laid me down and slept ; I awaked : for the Lord sustained me. 

6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set them- 
selves against me round about. 

7. Arise, O Lord ; save me, O my God ; for thou hast smitten all mine 
enemies upon the cheek-bone ; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 

8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord : thy blessing is upon thy people. 
Selah. 

When does the title say that this psalm was composed ? 

David was a great and rich and mighty king. Absalom was 
young and beautiful and^ wicked. King David knew that Ab- 
salom was wicked, but he did not know that Absalom had per- 
suaded the people of the land to make him king in place of his 
father. But he heard one day that Absalom had a great crowd 
of people together at Hebron, eighteen miles south of Jerusa- 
lem, and that the people had really crowned Absalom king. 
Then he knew that Absalom would come to Jerusalem with 
the host of people. David had no army ready to fight him 
back, and so he said to his servants: 'We must flee, or we 
shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste, or he will take 
us suddenly : he will smite the city with the edge of the 
sword.' Some of his old and true friends went with him. 
They went down over the brook Kedron, and up the Mount 
of Olives, with tears as they went, and David barefoot, and 
with his head covered over like a mourner at a funeraL 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 11 

Down the hills eastward to the river Jordan they went, and 
over the river into the wilderness. As he fled, or after he was 
in a safe place, the thoughts in his heart were the thoughts of 
this psalm ; for David was so full of feeling, that he was always 
pouring out his heart in psalms and songs and prayers. 

Were there many people with Absalom ? Read II. 
Samuel xv : 10-12. 

What did a messenger tell David ? II. Samuel xv : 13. 

What did the king do ? Read II. Samuel xv : 14-17, 
23, and 30. 

Did Absalom come with his men to the city ? xvi : 15. 

Think what a terrible thing it is for a father to be driven 
from his home by his son, and for a king to be driven by a 
wicked son who wants to be king himself. And King David 
was now an old man, and Absalom young and handsome, but 
as wicked as he was beautiful. 

Who was troubling King David of whom he speaks in the 
first verse ? 

How were David's enemies 'increased' ? 
Who were the many who rose up against him ? 
What did the many say ? 

How did they say this to Ms soul f Ansicer. It was 
as if they were saying : ' His God cannot help him this 
time,' or, * His soul has no help in God.' 

What did one of David's enemies do and say when 
David fled over the Mount of Olives ? Read II. Samuel 
xvi : 5-9. 

Bahurim, to which David came, spoken of in the fifth verse of 
that chapter, was probably one of the villages on the east side 
of the Mount of Olives, not far from Bethany. Think of King 
David, his palace, his home, his crown, his wife and children 
left behind, his throne lost, his counsellors turning against him, 
one of his subjects cursing him and throwing stones at him as 
he fled. 

What does * Selah ' mean ? Ansicer, Rest or pause. 



12 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Its meaning is not certainly known, but it is supposed 
that it is either a direction to make a ' rest ' in the notes 
of the music, or to pause a moment and think of the 
meaning of the words. 
What three things does David say the Lord is to him in the 
third verse ? 

An ancient Hebrew shield was probably made of a frame- 
work of wood, covered with ox-hide with the hair on. Some- 
times it was bordered with brass or copper or other metal. 
The lighter shields may have been soaked in oil and dried to 
make them hard. No doubt hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and 
elephant-skin shields were brought from Ethiopia. 

What is a shield always for ? 

What is God a shield to King David against ? Answer, 
Against his troubles, and against those who trouble him. 
What is meant by calling God 4 my glory ' ? 
Answer, When King David sat on his throne, and all 
his great and noble men stood listening around him, or 
were doing what he wanted through his kingdom, they 
were his glory. It seemed as if all his glory was gone. 
But he says : i Thou art more to me than all this glory 
which I have lost.' 

How was God * the lifter up of his head ■ ? 
Notice that there are three things to give King David sor- 
row: First, his troubles; second, many persons rising up 
against him ; thirdly, many who said God will not help him 
now. Now notice, there are three things against the three sor- 
rows : The shield is against the troubles ; the glory is against 
those who rise up for his shame ; and the lifter up of his head 
is against those who tried to cast him down by saying that 
God would not help him. 

For lohat did King David cry unto the Lord with his voice ? 
What is meant by his i holy hill ' ? Read the sixth 
verse of the second psalm. 

David is now driven away from the tabernacle on Mount 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 13 

Zion, where he used to pray unto God, and he remembers how 
God used to hear him there. 

What three things does the fifth verse say that David had 
done? 

If you will read the fourteenth verse of the sixteenth chap- 
ter of II. Samuel, you will see that David and those with him 
were weary, and refreshed themselves. Perhaps they rested 
through the night. 

What does David say is the reason why he could rest 
so calmly ? 
How does the sixth verse show that David trusted God to 
help him ? 

Were there as many people as ten thousand who had 
set themselves against David ? Read II. Samuel xvii : 
1,2. 
Explain now the meaning of 'Arise, Lord.' 

It is as if God were asleep and had lain down, while David's 
troubles were going on. 

Does ' Save me, my God,' mean, Save me from Ab- 
salom, or, Save me from my sins ? 

When he says God has smitten his enemies, why is 
the ' cheek-bone ' mentioned ? 

The cheek-bone is a part of the face which men strike at 
when they fight. , David knew how to fight if necessary, and 
he asks God to defend him, as if God should fight back his 
enemies by striking them in the face. 

What is meant by ' broken the teeth of the ungodly' ? 

It is as if his enemies had come like a wild beast upon him 
to eat up his flesh, and God had driven them off, breaking their 
teeth by the heavy blows of his club. Read Psalm xxvii : 2. 

Why did David say, ■ thou hast smitten,' l thou hast 
broken,' and not 'thou wilt smite,' or 'thou wilt 
break ' ? Answer, Because when he wrote the psalm, 



14 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

he was probably safe from his enemies, thinking of his 
escape. 

Perhaps David was thinking of how God had helped him 
against the lion and the bear, and against Goliath, and there- 
fore he cries out, i Arise, Lord ; save me, my God ; for thou 
hast helped me before.' 

What does ' Salvation ' mean ? 

David had prayed God to save him from his enemies, that 
is, to give him safety or salvation from his enemies. Now he 
says that God is the only one who can give salvation, or that 
salvation belongeth unto the Lord. 

Who only can give us salvation ? Why ? 

What is the meaning of 'thy blessing'? Answer. 
Thy gift of happiness. God's favor which makes 
happy. 

How is God's blessing on God's people? 

Was God's blessing on Absalom and his friends ? 

From whom only can we have salvation from our 
sins? 

Among whom must we be to have ' thy blessing ' ? 



THE NINETEENTH PSALM. 
To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David. 

1. The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament showeth 
his handy work. 

2. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth know- 
ledge. 

3. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 

4. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the 
end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 

5. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth 
as a strong man to run a race. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 15 

6. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto 
the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 

7. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : the testimony 
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 

"What is the title to this psalm ? 

The chief musician was the leader of the music and singing 
in the tabernacle and temple. David at first appointed the 
persons for the choirs in the worship. Some were appointed 
to sing ; some to play the harp, the psaltery, and the cymbals ; 
one to teach singing. The three best of all were Asaph, 
Heman, and Ethan ; and Asaph was the first chief musician, 
a singer with cymbals to keep time. 

We suppose that, when David sent the chief musician a new 
psalm, Asaph made a tune or chant for it, or David himself 
made the tune. Then the psalm and chant were taught to 
the singers and players, and were sung at the time of sacrifice. 

Who was the first chief musician whom David ap- 
pointed ? 

What do we suppose it was his duty to do ? 
What is meant by ' the heavens ' in the first verse : 

How do the heavens speak of the glory of God ? 

Every thing on the earth and in the earth and sea shows, in 
some way, the most wonderful wisdom and goodness of God. 
But the heavens, more than all, praise God, for they show us 
other worlds which have, no doubt, in them more wonderful 
things than our earth and sea ; and they show us, too, a won- 
derful number of such wonderful worlds. 

What is * the firmament ' ? Answer. The vault or 
arch of the sky, which seems like a real arch over us. 

What does ' his handy work ' mean ? Read Psalm 
viii : 3. 
In Jerusalem and Palestine the heavens are even more beau- 
tiful than in America, because the air is clearer. The arch of 
the firmament seems higher, the blue of the sky more deep 
and rich, and at night all the heavens are brilliant with glitter- 
ing splendor. 



16 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

How does a day utter speech ? 

How does day unto day utter speech ? Answer. Day- 
after day the heavens speak of God ; or it may mean, 
One day speaks to another day, and another to another, 
year after year, like one herald speaking to another. 

Mention as many things as you can, in the firmament 
in the daytime, w r hich show God's handiwork. 

4 Night unto night showeth knowledge' of what? 

Mention as many things as you can, in the night-sky, 
which give knowledge of God's wisdom and glory. 

So long as the light shines from the sunrise every morning, 
and so long as the stars shine out every night, will God's glory 
and power be shown. 

* His varied works of wonder shine, 
And loud declare the hand divine 
That made the day and made the night, 
And sowed the sky with diamonds bright.' 

"What is meant, in the third verse, by ' their voice' ? 
Where is their voice heard ? 

If the sentence God is good should be written across the sky 
in any one human language, millions of people could not read 
it, but there is no one in any speech or language who does not 
read in the sun and stars of heaven that God is good. Men 
die, their houses and cities crumble away, their kings and na- 
tions fall into death and ruin, even their speech and language 
slowly change and die, but the days and nights go on in the 
same speech and language, 

* Forever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is divine. 1 

What words of this verse are printed in italic let- 
ters ? 

The italic words in the Bible are words which are not in the 
language in which the Bible was first written ; but they are 
almost always necessary to make the meaning plain to all 
kinds of people. Now, if you leave the italic words out of 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 17 

his verse, the meaning of the verse is expressed in a different 
way. Then the verse will read : No speech nor language : 
their voice is not heard. ' The heavens have no speech : they 
have no language : they utter no sounds. Their voice is not 
heard. But although they are silent, they show the glory of 
God.' If you stand out silent under the heavens by day or by 
night, and gaze into the sky, they seem to say to you, ' There 
is a God.' 

If you leave out the italic words from the third verse, 

is the real meaning changed ? 

What line is meant by i their line ' in the fourth verse ? 

Answer. The word Mine' means a measuring-line ; and * their 

line' is the heaven's line, or the measuring-line of the heavens. 

When a farmer wants to know how long his farm is, his 
measuring -line goes over the land. Instead of saying his farm 
s a mile long, you might say his measuring-line goes out a mile. 
When David wrote the measuring-line of the heavens ' goes 
out through all the earth,' we suppose he meant that the 
heavens reach over, all people of the earth. 

Explain now, c Their line has gone out through all the 
earth.' 

How do the * words' of the heavens go out to the 
end of the world ? Answer. There is no place to the 
end of the world, where they do not say the same 
thing. 

Whether you are at the equator, at the tropical circles, or at 
the poles, the heavens look calmly down, and say the same 
thing to you. 

What does 'in them hath he set a tabernacle' mean ? 
Answer. In these heavens hath he pitched a tent. 

How has God in the heavens pitched a tent for tho 
sun ? 

The king's tent in the east is made of rich cloth in splendid 
colors, and ornamented with beautiful embroidery. The hea- 



18 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

vens arc like such a tent of blue for the King of Day, and at 
night embroidered with constellations of stars. 

How is the sun like a bridegroom ? Ansicer. A bridegroom 
who is just about to be married is expected to have a cheerful 
and happy face. Ai\d the sun, coming out of his tent at sun- 
rise, and sending his happy light over all the earth, comes with 
a cheerful and shining face. 

What race does the sun run during the day ? 
How is the sun like a strong man running a race ? 
Answer. In all his long race, from his rising to his set- 
ting, he goes swiftly on without stopping, or without 
being tired like a weak man. 

Why is it said that he rejoices as a strong man to run 
a race ? Answer. Because it gives a strong man only 
pleasure to run such a race. And the sun shines cheer- 
fully and powerfully all day long, as if he enjoys his 
unwearied work. Day after day he comes out of his 
chamber with the same cheerfulness. . 
From what part of the heavens is ' his going forth f ? 
What is c his circuit ' ? 
To what part does his circuit go ? 

Read in this way : * His going forth is from the end of the 
heaven, and his circuit unto the end of it/ that is, from the 
beginning to the end of it. 

What does 'nothing hid from the heat thereof mean? 

David has been speaking so far of the heavens ; why does he 
now speak of the law of the Lord ? 

You should think of King David looking up into the brilliant 
sky of Judea, with his soul filled with high thoughts of God. 
The next thing which he would be likely to think of is, that all 
those countless stars were kept in their orbits because God had 
made laws for them, and then next it would be natural for him 
to think of the law which God had made for men. 

Does ' law ' in the seventh verse mean the law of the Ten 
Commandments or the law of the whole Scriptures ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 19 

What part of the Bible was the Scriptures in David's 
time? 

In what things is God's law * perfect' ? 
Does the law of God 4 convert' the soul? 

If you will look into a Bible which has references, you will 
see among the references that converting the soul is here the 
same as restoring the soul. The verse does not mean that the 
law of God converts the soul of an unconverted sinner, but 
that it restores or turns back the Christian soul which has 
gotten into trouble or sin. 

What is i testimony of the Lord'? Answer. The 
proof which the commands of the Bible give against 
wickedness. 

How is that testimony sure f 

Does 4 the simple' mean the simple-hearted and sin- 
cere-hearted or the foolish and the silly ? 

How does the testimony of the Scriptures make the 
simple wise ? See 2 Timothy hi : 15. 



THE NINETEENTH PSALM. 

■ 

8. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart : the command- 
ment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 

9. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever : the judgments of 
the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 

10. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold : 
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 

11. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them 
there is great reward. & 

12. Who can understand his errors ? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 

13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not 
have dominion over me : then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent 
from the great transgression. 

14. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be ac- 
ceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. 



20 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What two names are the Scriptures called in the first verse 
of this lesson ? 

What is meant by ' statutes'? Answer. The laws 
which the law-makers of a state or nation make are 
called statutes. 

What, then, are ' the statutes of God ! ? Answer. The 
Bible is the book of the Divine Law-Maker's statutes, 
just as every state and nation has its book of statutes. 

Give any reasons that you can why the statutes of 
the Lord are right. 

Do all the statutes of God seem right to all kinds of 
people ? 

How is the commandment of the Lord pure t 

The word of God is like a lamp or a sun, and the light of it 
is clear or pure, burning freely and clearly. Or the command- 
ment of God teaches and requires only what is pure. 

Does enlightening the eyes mean the eyes of the mind 
or of the soul ? Read Psalm cxix : 18. 
What kind of fear is the fear of the Lord : dread of God, or 
the fear to turn away his love from us — fear of punishment, or 
fear to do wrong ? Read Proverbs viii : 13. 

How is this fear clean ? Answer. It makes the one 
who has it keep himself from every thing unclean in his 
thoughts and heart. 

How does it 4 endure forever i ? Read Prov.erbs x : 27 
and xix : 23. Those who have this loving fear of God, 
God saves. They live forever, and their loving fear is 
in them forever. 

What are 'judgments ■ ? Answer. The decisions of a 
judge in court. 

How are the Scriptures like such decrees of a judge ? 

If the decisions of a judge are false and wrong, the people in 
their hearts despise them ; but, if they are true and righteous 
altogether, they honor them and they honor the judge. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 21 

What is the meaning, then, of ' true and righteous 
altogether ' ? 
Why are the 'judgments' — that is, the Scriptures — more to 
be desired than gold ? 

What is the difference between gold and fine gold ? 

Gold, when it comes out of the mine, is mixed with rock 
and sand and earth. Even after it is melted it is mixed with 
other minerals. Separated from all, it is fine gold. 

If you will read now what all the verses say the Scriptures can 
do, and then think what gold can do, you will see which of the 
two is the more to be desired. The Scriptures restore the soul 
from trouble and give wisdom to the simple, (seventh verse ;) 
they give joy to the heart, they give light to the eyes of the 
spirit, (eighth verse ;) they make him who fears the Lord to live 
forever, they satisfy the soul that they are true and righteous 
altogether, (ninth verse.) Gold can only help get things for the 
body ; it can not restore the soul from trouble, nor give wis- 
dom, nor itself give joy to the heart, nor light to the eyes. 
Much fine gold cannot endure forever, nor satisfy the soul 
with its excellence. 

How are the Scriptures sweeter than honey and the 
honeycomb ? 

Gold can only ~buy things to be seen and heard and tasted 
and smelled and felt ; honey can only be tasted, and a little 
too much is sickening : God's word goes directly to the spirit, 
and is always pure and delicious to the heart that learns to 
love it. 

Think of the pure honey dripping over the full cells of the 
honeycomb : even that does not represent the sweetness of the 
Scriptures to a heart that dearly loves God. 
What does i moreover ' mean ? 

What is meant by 4 by them' ? 
Whose servant is 4 thy servant ' ? 
How was King David warned by the Scriptures ? 
What did King David say was the result of keeping 
them ? 



22 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Does he mean that this reward is now in this life or 
in the life to come ? 

He says, 'in the keeping of them, 7 that is, while keeping 
* there is great reward. 7 

What is meant by ' errors 7 in the twelfth verse ? 

When David began to think how the law of God warned 
him, he thought of the number of his sins and the greatness of 
them, and that their number and greatness were beyond his 
understanding. 

Does any one ever understand how many sins he has 
committed against God ? 

Why does David pray to be cleansed from 'secret 
faults 7 ? Answer. Because he knew that, if we had no 
secret sins, we would have no open sins. 

Which is the easier for you to correct, your open or 
your secret sins ? 
What kind of sins are 'presumptuous sins 7 ? Answer. Bold 
and wilful sins, like profanity or Sabbath-breaking. 

May not secret sins be presumptuous sins ? 

David means those daring and open sins which defy God 
and his law. If you wish to see the difference between smaller 
sins of ignorance and presumptuous sins, read Numbers 
xv : 27-31. If you wish to see a secret sin which was a 
presumptuous sin, read Joshua vii : 21. 

Explain 'have dominion over me. 7 

When a person has gone so far as to commit these open and 
bold sins, he will have a hah it of sinning which will be like a 
tyrant ruling over him. 

Notice that in the verse before this David prays to be 
cleansed from the sins which he has done, and in this verse to 
he Tcept from sins to which he may he tempted, imd these 
two things are like the things asked for in the Lord's Prayer, 
where our Saviour teaches us to pray first to ' forgive us our 
debts, 7 and then 'lead us not into temptation. 7 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 23 

4 Then shall I be upright ' : when ? 

What great transgression does ' the great transgres- 
sion ' mean ? Answer. It means, as if 'the' was left out, 
4 free from great transgression ' — as in the eleventh 
verse, ( great reward ' is spoken of. Perhaps i the great 
transgression ' means the worship of idols, to which the 
Jews were especially tempted in those days. Even 
David's son Solomon was afterward tempted to wor- 
ship idols. 
What two things does David pray for in the last verse ? 

« Is any one strong enough to keep himself from secret 
faults and presumptuous sins ? 

Who is his ' strength ' ? 

What is a c redeemer' ? Answer. A person who buys 
back another person from slavery, or who brings him 
back out of sin. 

Can any man redeem himself from his secret faults 
and presumptuous sins ? 

If he is redeemed, who is his ' redeemer' ? 



THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. 

A Psalm of David. 

1. The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. 

2. He niaketh me to lie down in green pastuies : he leadeth me beside 
the still waters. 

3. He restoreth my soul : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for 
his name's sake. 

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 
fear no evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies : 
thou anointest my head with oil ; my cup runneth over. 

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of ray life : 
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 



24 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What was King David himself when he was young ? Read 
1 Samuel xvi : 11-13, and xvii : 34-37. 

Where did David's father live at that time ? 1 Samuel 
xvi : 1 and 4. 

Do you think that David wrote this psalm when he 
was a shepherd-boy, or from the remembrance of his 
shepherd-life ? 
David was a beautiful boy, growing up to be a young man ; 
and he watched his father's flock of sheep on the hills and in 
the valleys around Bethlehem. The village of Bethlehem is on 
a high ridge of hills or mountains, and the brooks flow both 
ways, east to the Dead Sea, and west to the Mediterranean, 
through deep gorges and wild ravines. There are plenty of 
stones for shepherd-boys to sling ; and in these wild, dark ra- 
vines you may meet wild animals, not far from where David 
fought a lion and a bear. There are robbers who prowl around 
the hiding-places. Climbing these bare hills with his sheep, 
hunting out for them green spots of pasture, fighting off the 
lions and bears, young David learned here to be strong and 
brave. We may think of this shepherd-boy, with his ruddy 
face and cheerful heart, leading his flock with his crook, or 
slinging stones while they were feeding, or singing to himself 
some Hebrew song taught at home at Bethlehem. 

Describe the country around Bethlehem. 
What dangers were there to shepherds there ? 
What does David mean in the first verse by calling the Lord 
his shepherd ? 

Why shall he ' not want,' if the Lord is his shepherd ? 

A sheep is a weak, helpless creature, which can live only by 

the care of its shepherd ; but, if it can only be near him, it 

cares for nothing, is afraid of no one, but feels safe and happj^, 

for it wants for nothing. 

What two things are mentioned in the second verse which 
they ' will not want ' who follow the Good Shepherd ? 

By lying down in green pastures is food or rest 
meant ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 25 

By leading me beside the still waters is drink or care 
and guidance meant ? 

Does David say, ' lead me to the still waters/ or, 
* along the side of still waters' ? 

What are the green pastures which Jesus our Good 
Shepherd gives to his followers ? Read John x : 9, and 
explain it. 

What are the c still waters ' by which he leads them ? 
Read John iv : 14. Explain it. 

The country of Judea is a hot, dry, sandy, rocky country, 
with many small deserts and little water ; and shepherds, at 
noon of the hot summer day, lead their weary flocks to the 
side of some quiet, shady brook to rest. Perhaps still waters 
are to be contrasted with noisy, boisterous streams on the one 
hand, and stagnant, offensive pools on the other. 

What is the meaning of i restoreth my soul ' ? 

When a sheep goes astray from the flock, the shepherd goes 
after or calls after it and restores it to the flock. The soul in 
us is a tender thing, full of life and feeling, and likely at any 
time to be injured by enemies, like a sheep or lamb alone in 
the wild -ravines about Bethlehem. Read Isaiah liii : 6, and ex- 
plain it. 

Why is it not safe for the sheep to go before the 
shepherd in Judea ? 

Explain i paths of righteousness ' ? 
Why will not the soul go in paths of righteousness, 
if Jesus does not lead it ? 

What does leadeth me in the paths of righteousness 
''for his name's salve' mean? Ansicer. Leadeth me in 
paths of righteousness for the praise of his name, that 
is, so that every one who sees his goodness in leading 
me, shall praise his name. 
What is meant by 4 the valley of the shadow of death ' ? 

Sometimes night comes before the flock reaches home, and 
the shadows of the mountain fill the little ravine through 
which the flock must go with blackness and fear. 



26 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Why do not the flock fear in going through such a 
valley ? 

What does the shepherd use a rod and staff for ? 

The shepherds of Judea always cany a staff or rod. It is 
often crooked at one end, so that he can catch a sheep by the 
leg with it. With this rod or croo~k, he rules and guides the 
flock; with it he fights off enemies, and with it pulls back a 
sheep from a dangerous place, or an untrained lamb which goes 
off from the flock. Sometimes with it he beats the bushes or 
kills serpents, or steadies a sheep along the edge of a precipice, 
or, putting it under, helps them up the steep places. 

Show, then, how the rod and staff comfort the sheep ? 

Explain, then, how the rod and staff of the Good 
Shepherd comfort the soul in the time of death ? 

Can you prove from the Scriptures that the Lord our 
Shepherd has gone already before us through the valley 
of death ? Read Hebrews xiii : 20. 
What does 4 prepare a table before me ' mean ? 

God not only brings him out of great dangers, but in the 
presence of these dangers gives abundance of good things. 
As when we are sick almost to death, God brings us up, and, 
as if right by the side of our grave, gives us plenty of health 
and blessings. Or, if we die, spreads us his feast in heaven, in 
triumph over our great enemy, death. 

Do you think David meant at all any enemies among 
men ? 

Think what enemies David had had : the bear and the lion ; 
Goliath, the giant, and his army ; his ow r n brothers who taunt- 
ed him ; and afterward King Saul and his army, and all the 
enemies of his own kingdom. 

How is it true of a Christian in this wicked world, 
that God prepares his table before him in the presence 
of his enemies ? 

What is it to l anoint ' ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 27 

Why was the head anointed ? 
When a man was made king or was made priest, he was 
anointed with oil. And so when any great favor was done to 
a person, it was as if he was anointed with oil. 

What, then, did David mean by 4 thou anointest my 
head with oil ' ? Read Psalm xlv : 7. 

What is meant by 4 my cup ' ? Answer. My measure 
or my portion of good things. 

Did David mean his cup of blessings as a king and a 
rich man, or his cup of blessings to his soul, ran over ? 
What is the meaning of ' surely ' ? 

What is the difference between goodness and mercy ? 

What is meant by ' goodness and mercy shall follow 
me'? How long? 

It is as if David had said, God has been so good to me in so 
many things, that it seems truly as if he will make goodness 
and mercy follow my path all my life. 

Did any one in David's time dwell in the house of the 

Lord ? 

Could any one dwell in that house of God forever ? 

David meant, 'My love for the house of God shall be always 
so strong, as if my heart lived always in the courts of God.' 



Skflj Snnbair. 

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH PSALM. 

A Psalm of David. 

1. The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear? the 
Lord is the strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? 

2. When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to 
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 

3. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear : 
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 



28 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after ; that I 
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the 
beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. 

5. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion : in the 
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me ; he shall set me up upon a rock. 

6. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round 
about me : therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy ; I will 
sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. 

7. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice : have mercy also upon me, 
and answer me. 

We do not know at what time in his life David wrote this 
psalm ; but, if you read it through, you will see that it was 
when he was surrounded by enemies, or else when he remem- 
bered the enemies who once surrounded him. Perhaps the 
time was when he fled from Saul or from Absalom. 

By what three names does David call God in the first verse ? 
Is God anywhere else in the Scriptures called light ? 
Read 1 John i : 5. 

But how great a difference there is between saying, l God is 
light,' and 4 The Lord is my light' ! If I do not wish to have 
my wickedness known, it is a fearful thing to have God a light 
that shines through all things ; but, if I am good, it is most 
precious to me to have him for ' my light,' to look on me and 
show me and help me. 

How is ' the Lord' c my light' 

Who else is called a light in the Scriptures ? Read 
John viii : 12. 

What does * my salvation ' mean ? 

As a child may saj r , ' My father is my protection,' ' my fa- 
ther is my keeper,' ' my father is my safeguard, I will not 
fear,' so David said, ' The Lord is my salvation.' 

Does the last half of this verse mean any thing dif- 
ferent from the first half ? 

Why should David 'be afraid' of nothing, if God is 
the strength of his life ? Read Hebrews xiii : 6. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 29 

c When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes ' : can 
you mention the names of any wicked persons who were Da- 
vid's l enemies and foes ' ? 

What is meant by 'came upon me to eat uj? my 
flesh' f Amioer. As if they were wild beasts coming 
to eat my flesh. 

Some of David's enemies were as fierce and hateful against 
him as wild beasts. King Saul tried to kill David. The Phi- 
listines tried to kill him. Absalom and his men tried to kill 
him. Perhaps David meant that the enemies of his soul, the 
wicked who did not like his piety, were glad to see him do 
wrong, so that evil would come upon ffls soul. 

How did the wicked succeed who came upon him to 

eat up his flesh ? 

They wished to make him stumble and fall ; but they stum- 
bled and fell. Sins are like wild beasts, coming upon the soul 
to eat it up ; but, if God is the strength of the soul's life, these 
fierce beasts shall themselves stumble and fall. 

What is the meaning of 'a host should encamp against 
me' ? 

David was a man of war : he had fought enemies himself ; 
he knew what it was to have a host of enemies encamped 
against him. Perhaps David here means, though a host of 
sins, like a great army of enemies, should fight against my 
soul. 

Why should not good men fear when surrounded by 
enemies ? Read 2 Kings vi : 15-17. 

Why need a true Christian have fear of nothing ? 
What is the difference between ' war rise against me' 
and ' a host encamping against me ' ? 

A host encamping may not actually be in battle ; but when 
there is war, there is battle and fighting. 

What does i confident ' mean ? 



30 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

4 In this will I be confident ' : in what will he be con- 
dent ? Answer. Even in this time of great trouble, I 
will be confident. Or it may mean, I will be confident 
in this, that the Lord is my light and my salvation. 
What was the 'one thing 7 which David desired from the 
Lord and would seek after ? 

What was meant by l the house of the Lord ' in Da- 
vid' s time ? 

Could any one not a priest dwell in the Lord's house 
all the days of his life ? 

Is the beauty of the Lord any thing that you can be 
hold with the e^es ? 

Any thing that we love and delight in seems beautiful to us. 
The face in which other persons may see no beauty is beauti- 
ful to us, because it is the face of a friend, and because his love 
and behavior is beautiful to us. And every one who loves 
and delights in goodness, thinks goodness is beautiful, and that 
God, who is the highest goodness, is most beautiful of all. 

Can you explain, then, Ho behold the beauty of the 
Lord'?" 

What is meant by l to inquire in his temple ' ? 

To inquire is to seek knowledge ; and to inquire in his tem- 
ple is to seek to know the things taught in his temple. 

Can any one who does not love God see any beauty 
in him ? 

Will this be the one thing which he will desire and 
seek after ? 
Where will God hide him in his trouble ? 

Is l pavilion ' the same as ; tabernacle ' ? 

Did persons ever hide fn the temple when in danger ? 
Read 1 Kings ii : 28, 29. 

What is meant by c the secret of his tabernacle' ? 

If a king in that eastern land should take a person pursued 
by enemies into his great tent or pavilion, and then into his 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 31 

inner tent, that would be the best possible protection, for he 
would be hid in the secret of his pavilion or tabernacle. 

What is meant by ' set me upon a rock ' ? Answer, 
He will keep me safe, as if he would take me out from 
the midst of my enemies, and put me above them on a 
high and strong rock. 

Is the first part of the sixth verse any thing different from 
the last sentence of the fifth verse ? 

Explain the meaning of ' therefore ' in the next part 
of the verse ? 

Does i sacrifices of joy' mean actual sacrifices of 
beasts in the tabernacle, or the offering to God of joyful 
and thankful feelings toward him ? 
Why is ' I will sing ' repeated ? 
Why is singing praises pleasing to God ? 

David began to feel that he himself had nothing which de- 
served these great favors of God ; and that he had need to cry 
unto him so that God would oe his light and his salvation. 

What are the two things which he asks for in this verse ? 

Does ' cry with my voice ' show the prayer to be ear- 
nest or feeble ? 

Does 'have mercy' mean anything more than pity 
me in my troubles ? 

4 Answer me' : answer what request f 



cbxntlj jjunimg. 



THE TWENTY-SEVENTH PSALM. 

8. When thou midst, Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee, Thy 
face, Loed, will I seek. 

9. Hide not thy face far from me ; put not thy servant away in anger . 
thou hast been my help ; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of ray 
salvation. 

10. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will 
take me up. 



32 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

11. Teach me tby way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because 
of mine enemies. 

12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies : for false wit- 
nesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. 

13. Iliad fainted, unless 1 had believed to see the goodness of the Lord 
in the land of the living. 

14. Wait on the Lord ; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen 
thine heart : wait, I say, on the Lord. 

Who is it that said, * Seek ye my face ' ? 

Who is it that answers ? 

Does ' When thou saidst' mean, When God had said 
already these words to David, or, Whenever God should 
say them? Head 1 Chronicles xvi : 11 ; Ps. cv : 4. 

What is meant by * the heart ' and ' my heart f in the 
Scriptures ? 

What a beautiful and pleasant way this is of speaking of 
loving and seeking God ! Instead of saying, Seek me, your 
God, God says, Seek ye my face, as if there is something pleas- 
ing in his face to look at, like the face of a good friend. And 
instead of David's sa}dng, / will seek thy face, God, or, 1 
will seek thee, God, he says, My heart said unto thee — my 
affections answered (so great was their love) — Thy face, so* 
loving and good and pleasant, so full of light and salvation, 
will I seek. How beautiful is the response of one spirit, look- 
ing with a glad eye up into the face of another. 

David has said, in the eighth verse, that he will seek God's 
face ; what does he now, in the ninth verse, ask God not to 
do? 

If God tells us to seek his face, he meant that he will show 
it to us, which is the opposite of hiding it. 

Is there any reason why God should ever hide his face 
from us? 

What other three things does David ask God not to 
do? 

Who is meant hy ' thy servant ' ? See 1 Samuel 
iii : 9, 10 ; xvii : 34 and 36. 

For what thing only is God ever angry ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 33 

Explain how the Lord had teen the help of David. 

Is there any difference between 'leave me not' and 
* neither forsake me' ? Answer. Do not leave me, even 
to come back again ; and do not forsake me, never to 
come back. 

Did David mean, Do not forsake me in my troubles 
from enemies, or troubles from sins ? 

Read 4 thou hast been my help ' with the emphasis on hast. 
Then the meaning will be, Thou hast in the past been my 
help : do not now leave me, and do not forsake me entirely. 

Have you any reason to believe that David's father and mo- 
ther ever forsook him or left him ? 

It is possible that, when David was hunted by King Saul, 
and when Saul and all his great men were trying to kill 
him, even David's father and mother were not able to help 
David or give him shelter in the house. Many times, in perse- 
cution, a father and mother have had more fear of a king than 
they have had love for their child. 

Give the exact meaning of Hake me up.' 

To take one up is to take up a person wounded and deserted 
by the wayside, as the Good Samaritan took up the Jew 
wounded and robbed between Jerusalem and Jericho ; or, to 
take up is to take a stranger to your house and your heart 
and care for him, as you read in Matthew xxv : 35 and 43. 

Can you give any verses of Scripture which show 
that God loves as tenderly as a father or mother ? 

Can you give any which show that he is more loving 
than a father or a mother ? Read Isaiah xlix : 15 and 
Matthew vii : 11. 
What c way ' is meant in ' Teach me thy way ' ? 

Does c plain path' mean an even path, or apath^&un- 
ly seen ? 

Plain path, in this verse, means an even, smooth path, because 
his enemies are on either side of him, watching to see him 
stumble and fall. 



34 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What does this mean in respect to the thoughts and 
feelings of our hearts ? 
What is meant by the will of mine enemies ? 

What two kinds of enemies does he speak of in the 
last part of the twelfth verse ? 

What enemy of David was a false witness and breathed 
out cruelty ? Read 2 Samuel xvi : 5-8. 

Explain the meaning of 4 false witnesses ' and l breathe 
out cruelty.' See Luke xxiii : 2 and Acts ix : 1. 
Does 4 I had fainted ' mean the body or the spirit had 
fainted ? 

What does l believed to see the goodness ' mean ? 
Answer. ' Had faith that I should see/ etc. 

Why would David have fainted if he had not seen 
God's goodness ? 
If you think only of the wickedness which there is in the 
world, only of the cruelty of men, in wars and murders and 
hate and revenge, in vice and wretchedness, your heart will 
sink within you. You must see something that is good to 
keep up your heart. Or if you think of God only as a God of 
cruelty and hatred, your spirit would fail. But if you think 
of God's goodness, of his willingness to be good to you, and 
have good reason to hope he will be good to you, your heart 
cannot faint. 

Does David mean by 'in the land of the living' the 
goodness of God in this life or in another ? 

Does David say ■ wait on the Lord ' to his own heart or to 
others ? 

' Be of good courage ' in respect to what ? 

How does the verse say God will help us to be of 
good courage ? 

1 Strengthen thine heart ' : how ? 

If the heart is not turned away from sin, can we ex- 
pect God to strengthen it ? 

Does the verse mean 'Be of good courage and wait 
for the Lord' while we still stay in our sins ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR, 35 

Does c wait on the Lord ' mean wait on him as a ser- 
vant waits on his master for work to do, or wait pa- 
tiently till he shall deliver him out of affliction ? 

If you think how David has spoken of himself all through 
this psalm, how he has said, 'my light and my salvation,' 'mine 
enemies and my foes come upon mef i one thing have / de- 
sired,' 'he shall hide me in his pavilion,' 'when my Father and 
my mother forsake me,' 'teach me thy way, Lord,' then the 
last verse seems beautifully said to himself, 'Wait, my soul, on 
the Lord ; be of good courage, my heart, for he shall strength- 
en thee' : ' wait, I say, on the Lord,' as if he said : 'Hope on, hope 
ever, my soul ; pray on, pray ever ; trust on, trust ever in 
the Lord.' 



THE SONG OF MOSES AT THE RED SEA. 
EXODUS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

1. Thex sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, 
and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glori- 
ously : the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 

2. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation : 
he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation ; my father's God, and 
I will exalt him. 

3. The Lord is a man of war : the Lord is his name. 

4. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea : his chosen 
captains also are drowned in the Eed Sea. 

5. The depths have covered them : they sank into the bottom as a stone. 

6. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power : thy right 
hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 

7. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them 
that rose up against thee : thou senteth forth thy wrath, which consumed 
them as stubble. 

Where was Moses when he sang this song ? Find out in 
chapter xiv. 



36 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What had been done ? 
Who had done it for them ? 

Notice carefully and you will see that the song may be di- 
vided into three parts. Each part begins with the praise of 
God, and ends with the overthrow of Pharaoh's army. See 
the beginning of the parts in the first, sixth, and eleventh 
verses, and the end of the parts in the fifth, tenth, and nine- 
teenth verses. 

To whom did Moses and the people sing this song ? 

Why is this called a song when it is not written in 
rhyme ? Answer. Because it is full of high and noble 
language, like the language of poetry. 

Dees 'sing' mean just what we mean by singing? 

It says in the first verse, ' Then sang Moses, etc., this song, 
and spaJce, saying, I will sing, etc.,' which shows that they 
chanted in high and glad voices the praise of God for the 
great victory. 

What does l triumphed gloriously ' mean ? 

How were 'the horse and his rider thrown into the 
sea'? 

Is any thing said of horses and riders in the story ? 
Find out in chapter xiv. 

The horses and riders, that is, the horsemen, were, no doubt, 
a large part of Pharaoh's army, and, as they came riding in 
chase of the Hebrews afoot, they looked very strong and ter- 
rible. But God brought all their regiments of horsemen down 
into the sea. What strong and high language it is, ' the horse 
and his rider hath he thrown into the sea,' as if God had taken 
up the Egyptians riding on their horses, one by one, or a whole 
regiment together, and flung them far out into the sea. 

4 The Lord is my strength ' : explain now how the Lord was 
the strength of Moses and the Hebrews at that time. 
Explain the Lord is ? my song.' 
How had he c become their salvation ' ? 



THE SENIOE YEAR. 37 

What does ' I will prepare him a habitation ' mean ? 

Notice that the reason why Moses and the Hebrews will 
prepare God a habitation is because he is their God. To say, 
4 He is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation, 7 is like 
saying, 4 He is my God, and therefore I will prepare him a habi- 
tation. 7 

* I will exalt him : ' how can he exalt God ? 
What is the reason ichy 4 I will exalt him' ? 

Think of all that great multitude of exulting Hebrews ! 
Think of each one of them saying : 4 He is my God, and /will 
prepare him a habitation: he is my father's God, and /will 
exalt him.' It was as if God had saved each one separately 
from the sea which had just poured back on Pharaoh's army. 

How did Moses and the Hebrews afterward prepare 
God a habitation ? 
How is the Lord 4 a mem of war" ? 

Put a strong emphasis on the Lord the first time, and a 
stronger emphasis the second time. 4 The Lord is & man of 
war: 'THE LORD is his name.' In the Hebrew it reads: 
4 Jehovah is a man of war : JEHOYAH is his name.' 

What is the meaning of. .the name Jehovah? Read 
Exodus hi : 13, 14. 

What is the difference between the name of Almighty 
God and Jehovah ? Read Exodus vi : 3. 

One of the names represents power : the other represents 
"being or life. 

Is it poicer or life which is shown in a warrior ? 

Hear the army exult in God : ' Jehovah is a man of war : 
that is, The God of Life is a God t of Power.' 

Does God ever speak of himself as a warrior ? Isaiah 
lix : 17-19 ; Deuteronomy xxxii : 40, 41. 
Against whom does he fight? 



38 THE SEXIOR YEAR. 

Against what king and captains does the fourth verse show 
that God as a ' man of war ' fought ? 

Why are the 'chariots' and the 'host' mentioned ? 
Does the last part of the verse mean any thing more 
than the first part ? 

His chosen captains : his very best warriors our Jehovah has 
drowned in the bottom of the sea. 

What are ' the depths ' ? 

How can depths cover any thing ? 

They sunk so deep that, looking down into- the depths, the 
darkness of the depths covered them from sight. 

' They sank into the bottom.' Did they really sinh 
from the top to the bottom ? 

What is meant by sank into the bottom as a stone 
Answer. Like a stone which never comes up again. 

In the third verse the Lord is represented as a warrior. In 
the fourth verse this warrior hurls the chariots and armies of 
Pharaoh into the sea. In the fifth verse the strength with 
which he hurls them is shown by the quickness and force with 
which they went to the bottom, as a stone hurled into the sea. 
And now, in the sixth verse, the right hand of this warrior is 
praised, which has hurled the enemies so powerfully. 

Explain ' glorious in power.' How has he ' become 
glorious in power ' ? 

What thing does the last part of the verse show that 
the right hand had done to make it glorious in power ? 

God often speaks of himself in the Scriptures as a great and 
majestic man. His power is represented by his right arm ; his 
knowledge by his 'eye'; his kingly character by his sitting 
'on a throne'; his greatness by his putting his feet on the 
earth as 'his footstool' ; his goodness by his shining face ; his 
anger by his hurling weapons and thunderbolts. 

In the seventh verse, what, besides his great power, does 
God show ? 



THE SENIOR. YEAS. 39 

The right hand of God represents his omnipotent strength 
only, whether that strength is rightly or wrongly used ; but 
his excellence is the reason why he uses his right arm for good. 
Because he is entirely right and good and just and pure and 
holy, he overthrows his enemies. When God overthrows his 
wicked enemies, he shows that his excellence is much greater 
than his power. 

Explain the figure of speech: 'Them that rose up 
against him.' 

How will God overthrow all his enemies at the last ? 
Yv r hat is meant by i sendest forth thy wrath' ? 

He sends it fovth y like a sweeping fire on a prairie, or a 
sweeping hot wind over a green field of tender plants. 

4 Which consumed them as stubble : ' where in the 
Scriptures is God represented as a consuming fire ? See 
Hebrews xii : 29. 



itinifr Smtbmjv 



EXODUS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

8. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together : 
the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the 
heart of the sea. 

9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil ; 
my lust shall be satisfied upon them ; I will draw my sword, my hand shall 
destroy them. 

10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them ; they sank as 
lead in the mighty waters. 

11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? who is like thee, 
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? 

12. Thou stretchedest out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 

13. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast re- 
deemed : thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. 

14. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the 
inhabitants of Palestine. 



40 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

At the end of the last lesson God's angry power was repre- 
sented as a consuming fire. In the first part of this lesson it 
is represented as a wind, which blows the waves into a heap 
until his enemies enter the sea, when it blows the sea back 
upon them. The mighty wind which opened the Red Sea is 
described as only a single blast of the nostrils of the Almighty 
when he is indignant. 

How is God's power represented in the seventh verse of the 
chapter ? 

How in the eighth verse ? 
What is meant by 'the blast of thy nostrils ' ? 
What did the wind have to do with dividing the sea ? 
Read chapter xiv : 21. 

What is meant by 'the floods stood upright as an 
heap ' ? Read xiv : 22. 

What is the meaning of 'congealed' ? 

1 The depths were congealed in the heart of the sea' means 
that it seemed as if the liquid depth in the heart of the sea into 
which you looked had hardened into an earthy bottom. 

' The enemy said ' : when did the enemy say this — before 
they came to the sea, or when they were following the Israel- 
ites into the sea ? 

Notice, in this and the next verses, the quick and lively de- 
scription of the enemy's boasting, and of God's overthrow of 
them. See what high and excited feeling the ninth verse 
shows : six things which the enemy said in their hearts are 
mentioned ; and each thing adds something to the thing be- 
fore, so that you can almost see the excited looks and hear the 
boasting voice of the Egyptians. 

What are the six things which the enemy said ? 
Show how the first three — 'pursue,' 'overtake,' 'di- 
vide the spoil ' — follow each other in a natural order. 

The other three things follow, too, in natural order : My lust 
shall be satisfied — that is, my fullest desire shall be satisfied 
on them, I will do as I please with them ; I will draw my 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 41 

sword, (this is the way I will do it ;) I will utterly destroy 
them, (that is what I will do.) The quickness of the language, 
running from one thing to another, is a beautiful description 
of an excited and boastful king and his army pursuing another 
army. 

How, now, did God meet this boastfumess against his people ? 

Wliile the Egyptians were boasting to one another, God was 
leading them into the very place where he wanted them to de- 
feat them. See how vivid is the description in the tenth verse 
of what this Almighty warrior did against his enemies. 

What things did God do ? What did the sea do ? 
Is there any thing said in the fourteenth chapter 
about God's Mowing oach the waves upon the Egyptians ? 
What was the result to his enemies ? 

* One breath of God was enough to sink the proud foe as 
lead beneath the waves of the sea,' 

Which is stronger in the description, ' sank into the 
bottom as a stone, 1 or, 'sink as lead in the mighty 
waters ' ? 
What gods are meant by 'among the gods' ? 

We must remember that the Hebrews had just come from 
Egypt, where the false gods were supposed to be great and 
powerful, and that the gods of the country to which they were 
going were supposed to be mighty gods. c Even if they were 
gods so great and mighty as you think,' is what Moses means, 
4 who is like unto Jehovah among the gods ?' 

In what three things does the last part of the verse 
say that God is unlike other gods ? 

How is God in his holiness glorious ? Answer. God 
is pure like the sun or like light, and entire purity from 
all wrong thoughts is holiness. The sun is glorious in 
pure light, but God's purity is more splendid and mag- 
nificent. 



42 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

How is he in his praises fearful ? 
When men really see how great and stupendous God's 
praises are through the universe, they are filled with astonish- 
ment and awe. 

Does wonders mean the wonders which he had just 
done in the sea, or all the wonders which he does ? 

The next verse describes how God shows that he is glorious 
in holiness and fearful in praises and mighty in wonders. He 
is so glorious and fearful and mighty that if he only stretched 
out his right hand, the earth swallowed them up. 

How can it be said that the eartli swallowed them 
when it was the sea that swallowed them ? 

Was Moses's hand in place of God's hand, or is God 
imagined to stretch out his hand ? Read xiv : 26, 27. 

Perhaps Moses, filled with wonder at God's greatness and 
glory and power, meant that all God's enemies as well as the 
Egyptians would be overthrown when God should stretch out 
his hand. » 

Who is meant by 'the people which thou hast redeemed ' ? 
How had they been redeemed ? 

What was the holy habitation into which God had 
guided them ? 

Of course there can really be no such thing as a habitation 
or dwelling-place on earth of a God whom the very heaven of 
heavens cannot contain. But any place which God enters to 
show the worshipping people that he is God is God's dwelling- 
place. God told Moses to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt so 
that they might sacrifice unto him, and that place of God's 
worship would be God's habitation. Perhaps Moses, as a 
prophet, predicted the Tabernacle, which was soon to be 
built. 

4 The people shall hear' : what people ? 
Why shall they 'be afraid' ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 43 

Does 'sorrow shall take hold of mean sorrow for 
doing wrong or suffering from fear ? 
Where was Pai-es-ti-na ? 

Palestina, or Palestine, did not then mean the whole land of 
the Jews, from Mount Lebanon to the southern wilderness. 
It meant only the narrow, beautiful plain along the Mediterra- 
nean Sea from Joppa to Egypt, the land of the Philistines. 
The word Pal-es-ti-na might as well have been Phil-es-ti-na. 
It is very strange that now, after hundreds of years, P-a-1-e-s- 
t-i-n-e or P-h-i-1-e-s-t-i-n-e, the name of the country of the 
Philistines, the Hebrews' bitter enemies, is the name of the 
whole land of the Hebrews. 



EXODUS. 

CHAPTER XV. 

15. Then the dukes of Edorn shall be amazed ; the mighty men of Moab, 
trembling shall take hold upon them : all the inhabitants of Canaan shall 
melt away. 

16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them ; by the greatness of thine arm 
they shall be as still as a stone ; till thy people pass over, O Loud, till the 
I>eople pass over, zvhich thou hast purchased. 

17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine 
inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell 
in ; in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. 

18. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. 

19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his 
horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea 
upon them ; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of 
the sea. 

20. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her 
hand ; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with 
dances. 

21. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath tri- 
umphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 



44 THE SENIOR TEAR. 

Where were the countries of 'Edom' and 'Moab' and ' Ca- 
naan/ spoken of in the fifteenth verse ? 

Who was ' Edom ' at first ? Read Genesis xxv : 29, 30. 

Edom means red, and the pottage for which Esau sold his 
birthright was red, therefore Esau was called Edom. And it 
is said that the mountains of the land of Edom, where Esau 
and his descendants lived, were red in appearance, so that the 
country was properly named Edom. 

Who are meant by 'the dukes of Edom' ? Answer. 
The chiefs or sheiks of the tribes of Edom. 
At what shall the dukes of Edom be amazed ? 
Who was Moab at first ? Genesis xix : 37. 
Who was Canaan at first? Genesis ix : 18. 

The countries, as you see, were named after the men who 
first settled them, as America was named for one of its first 
discoverers, Americus Vespucius. 

Show what is meant by the three descriptions of these' 
three peoples — ' shall be amazed,' ' trembling shall take 
hold of them,' ' shall melt away.' 

Think of these grave and venerable sheiks of Edom, who 
were never to be surprised by any thing, now amazed at the 
mighty work of God on the very borders of their own kingdom. 
Think of the mighty warriors of Moab, who were ready to fight 
all people, now trembling at the terrible power which had 
been shown so near them. And think, as the news of this great 
miracle was carried northward to the people of Canaan, who 
were like ranges of hills in their ranks and regiments, of those 
people hiding or fleeing away, as if they had melted like ridges 
of snow and ice. 

What is the difference between ' fear ' and ' dread ' in the 
last verse ? 

Explain ' by the greatness of thy arm they shall be 
as still as a stone.' 



THE SEX10II YEAR. 45 

4 Till thy people pass over': what — the Red Sea or 
Jordan or some country ? 

Why is ' people pass over ' repeated ? 
4 Which thou hast purchased ' : how had God pur- 
chased his people ? 
Who is ' them ' in the seventeenth verse ? 
Is this verse prophetic or not ? 

What mountain is meant by the 4 mountain of thine 
inheritance ' ? 

What mountain was afterward especially God's in- 
heritance ? See Psalm lxxxviii : 54. 

Does 'the place which thou hast made to dwell in' 
mean any thing different from 4 the mountain of thine 
inheritance ' ? 

What sanctuary had God established ? 
How had he already established it ? 
Does the eighteenth verse mean that the Lord shall reign 
forever in the universe, or in the mountain and place and sanc- 
tuary which he has established ? 

Is it a prediction for the future, or an exulting ex- 
pression of confidence in him for what he has just 
done ? 
To reign is to act as a king : has God been represented as a 
king in any of the verses before ? 

What two reasons does the nineteenth verse give why God 
shall be king ? 

Pharaoh on his horse at the head of his army represents his 
power and pride. King Phara h, the greatest earthly king, 
God has overthrown, and therefore he is the Greatest King of 
all. And, like a king, God has preserved his own people from 
the king who tried to destroy them! 

See how, in the verses before, God has been represented as 
a great and mighty sovereign. In the third verse he is a 
warrior, in the fourth verse he has hurled his enemies into the 
sea, in the sixth verse his right hand has dashed in pieces his 
enemies, in the thirteenth verse he has led his own people out 



46 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

of the war triumphant, and in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and six- 
teenth verses he has made all the surrounding nations fear 
him. 

Have you any account of Miriam in the book of Exodus be- 
fore this time ? 

Perhaps she is the same sister of Moses and Aaron men- 
tioned in the second chapter, in the fourth, seventh, and eighth 
verses. Miriam is the same name as Maria, which is the same 
as Mary, and means ' rebellion.' Miriam is Hebrew, Maria is 
Greek and Latin, Mary is English. 

Can you find any other place where Miriam is spoken 
of as a prophet ? 
Describe a timbrel. 

The timbrel is a musical instrument like the tambourine ; it 
is made of a small, thin, wooden hoop, with a skin stretched 
over it, and hung around with brass bells or round, brass rat- 
tles, which jingle when it is played. 

What was the going out of all the women after Miriam the 
sign of ? 

What did they take with them and what did they 
do? 

When the nation or the king has been successful or triumph- 
ant, this was the way in which they showed their joy. Bead 
how a daughter welcomed her father home in Judges xi : 34, 
and how the women welcomed David in I. Samuel xviii : 6, and 
how David welcomed the ark of God in II. Samuel vi : 14-16. 

What is meant by Miriam l answered ' them ? 

Notice that Miriam repeats the opening words of the song, 
only that she repeats it as a command. She does not say, as 
in the first verse, ' I will sing,' but 4 Sing ye.' When Moses 
and the men sing, c I will sing unto the Lord,' Miriam and the 
women answer : Sing ye unto the lord. Perhaps Miriam and 
the women answered many times during the chant of the song, 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 47 

repeating, ' Sing ye unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glo- 
riously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 

Show how the three parts of this song begin and end. 

What is the subject of the song and of each part ? 

Where is 4 the Song of Moses ' spoken of in the New 
Testament ? See Revelation xv : 3. 

Do you suppose that that means this song ? 

Why may it mean this ? Answer. Because it may be 
used as a song of victory over all God's foes. 

What a triumphant rejoicing there w r ill then be when ten thou- 
sand times ten thousand will be gathered in the heavenly king- 
dom, and when they will sing, one great part answering to an- 
other : I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glori- 
ously ; Satan and his host hath he cast into the fiery sea ! 



dtlcbcnil; jSunbair. 

WHAT MOSES TAUGHT THE HEBREWS TO TEACH 
THEIR CHILDREN. 

DEUTERONOMY. 

CHAPTER VI. 

1. Now r these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, 
which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do 
them in the land whither ye go to possess it. 

2. That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes 
and his commandments, which I command thee ; thou, and thy son, and 
thy son's son, all the days of thy life ; and that thy days may be prolonged. 

3. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well 
with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fa- 
thers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 

4. Hear, Israel : The Lord our God is one Lord : 

5. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with 
all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

6. And these vortis. which I command thee this day, shall be in thine 
heart : 



48 THE SENIOK YEAR. 

7. And thou slialt teacli them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk 
of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest hy the 
way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 

8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall 
be as frontlets between thine eyes. 

It was more than forty years after Moses and Miriam had 
sung the song at the Red Sea that Moses spoke the words of 
this chapter. Miriam and Aaron were dead, and all the grown 
people at the Red Sea except Joshua and Caleb. And the 
little children at the Red Sea and at Mount Sinai had grown to 
be more than forty years old. The whole great multitude of 
them were now ready to cross the River Jordan into the land 
of Canaan. And this is a part of what Moses told them they 
should do when they should come into the land. 

What ' commandments ' are meant in the first verse ? 

What is the difference between 'commandments' and 
'statutes' and 'judgments' ? 

Where especially were these commands to be taught 
and obeyed ? 

Who were among the people now that were at the 
Red Sea ? 

Why had the rest died ? Read Numbers xxxii : 10-13. 

Careful pains are now taken that the Hebrews should start 
rightly in the new land which they were going to possess. 
And the whole story of their deliverance from Egypt, of the 
wonderful doings at Sinai, of the journey in the wilderness, is 
told over to them by Moses. This book of Deuteronomy is, 
almost all of it, the story of what had happened in the time 
of their fathers. 

What is the reason given in the second verse for teaching all 
these commandments ? 

What kind of fear is meant in the words, 'That thou 
mightest fear the Lord' ? 

Who else besides each person before Moses was to 
keep these commandments ? 

After they should start rightly in that new land, to keep 



THE SENIOR YEAE. 49 

right through all the history of the nation, the father must 
teach his child and the child the grandchild, and so on always.* 

What reason at the end of the verse for teaching and 
fearing ? 

What command among the Ten Commandments has 
the promise of long life in it ? 

How does keeping God's commands prolong life ? 
Who is meant by 4 Israel * ? 

How and when was the name Israel given to Jacob ? 

What is 4 it * in i Hear therefore, and observe to do iV ? 

What two reasons are given for hearing and observ- 
ing? 

Explain * may be well with thee.* 

* That ye may increase mightily ' : does it mean the 
people increase in number, or the nation in power ? 

1 As the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee " : 
can you find in the Scriptures the promise either to 
them or to their fathers that ' they should increase 
mightily ? 

Explain * floweth with milk and honey.* 
.Repeat together the fourth and fifth verses. 

Where in the gospels does our Saviour quote this ? 

At what place was he when he quoted it ? 

Does this verse mean that the Son of God and the 
Holy Ghost are not God also ? 

Can you comprehend how these three are one ? 

As in sunlight there are seven distinct lights, or seven in 
one, so in God there are three persons in one being. We can 
know that it is so ; how it is we do not know. We know the 
fact that a blade of grass grows ; how it grows we do not know. 

Can you tell the difference between " heart* and 'soul* and 
'might*? 

Is this the first thing which Moses commands to be 
taught to children or not ? % 

Who is it that is commanded to love God with all the 
soul? 



50 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Is haying them 4 in thine heart ' different from having 
them in our minds ? 
To whom shall they be taught ? 

Who shall teach them ? 

Why shall they be talked of in the house ? 

Is there any thing different meant in talking of them 
4 when walking by the way ' and ' when thou liest down 
and when thou risest up ? ? 

To talk of them when sitting in the house and when walking 
out, when resting and when rising, would be to talk of them 
all the time. This does not mean, of course, that a father shall 
talk all day long about these commands, but that he should 
teach them at all proper times. 

What does * diligently ' mean ? 
How could these words be bound upon the hand ? 

Does ' for a sign ' mean for a sign of what is past, or 
for a sign of what is to be ? 

What are 'frontlets'? 

Can you find any other place in the Old Testament 
where these 'signs' and 'frontlets' are spoken of? 

The Jews thought this was a command to write these words 
on strips of parchment and bind these strips on the hand or 
wrist and on the forehead. These parchments for the forehead 
were the phylacteries which the Pharisees in our Lord's day 
used to make broad. Read Matthew xxiii : 5. 

Do you think this direction meant that they should 
write these words in that way or not ? 



DEUTERONOMY. 

CHAPTER VI. 

9. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy 
gates. 

10. And it shall be, when the Lokd thy God shall have brought thee 



THE SENIOK YEAR. 51 

into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and 
to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 

11. And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells 
digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou 
plantedst aot ; when thou shalt have eaten, and be full : 

12. Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth 
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear 
by his name. 

14. Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which 
are round about you ; 

15. (For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you,) lest the anger 
of the Lord thy God be kindled against you, and destroy thee from off 
the face of the earth. 

16. Ye shall not tempt the Lord thy God, as ye tempted him in Mas- 
sah. 

Is this ninth verse a command to write these words literally 
on the door-posts or house-posts ? 

See how many ways are mentioned by which these words 
of God shall be taught in the family : when sitting, when walk- 
ing, when lying down, when rising up, binding them on the 
hand, binding them between the eyes, writing them on the 
house-posts, writing them on the gates. 

What 'land' did God * sware unto their fathers' ? 

What is meant by swearing the land unto their fa- 
thers ? 

Find in the Scriptures the place where God swore to 
give that land unto Abraham. 

Find where he promised to give it to Isaac. To Jacob. 

Are the 'great and goodly cities,' and- ' houses,' and 

4 wells,' and c vineyards,' and l olive-trees,' things which 

God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; or is the 

verse to read in this way, ■ When the Lord thy God 

shall have brought tJiee into the land, ... to give thee 

great and goodly cities,' etc. ? 

How many separate good things are promised to them in the 

tenth and eleventh verses ? 



52 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

• 
Notice the kinds of things promised : cities with walls for 
defence and for glory ; houses for the comforts of home ; wells 
of water, which in the dry country of the East were worth a 
great price ; vineyards and olive-yards, that is, fields of fruit 
like grapes and olives. 

Who built the cities, and filled the houses, and digged 
the wells, and planted the vineyards ? 

Explain ' when thou shalt have eaten and be full.' 
'Beware' of what? 

Does abundance of good things make people forget 
God? Why? 

Why should abundance make us think of God ? 

What had the Lord done for them more than to give 
them these good things ? 

Think whether there could be any greater prosperity than 
for the Hebrews to be brought out of the degraded slavery of 
Egypt to the great and goodly cities and houses and wells and 
fields of the land to which they were going. 

Explain the three things of the thirteenth verse which they 
are commanded to do toward God. 

'Shalt swear by his name' means that, when the people 
should take a solemn oath, they should not swear by any false 
god, but only by the True. 

What commandment of the Ten Commandments does the 
fourteenth verse really repeat ? 

The people of all that great region in the East had a great 
number of false gods, of many ranks and kinds, great and 
small. These were not simply false idols, but, in the thoughts 
of the people, they were cruel and impure and vicious gods, 
full of all kinds of wickedness. It is against these that God 
commands that they shall not go after other gods, and says : 
' Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' 

Explain how God can be called a ''jealous God,' as he is in 
the fifteenth verse. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 53 

Every good man is jealous of his reputation and honesty 
and truth ; every man is intensely jealous of any man who 
should try to turn him out of his house and to take his place ; 
and just so God is jealous of having a false, cruel, sensual 
god take his place in men's minds. 

' Lest the anger of the Lord thy God ' : why is it right for 
God to be angry ? 

Explain 4 be kindled against thee.' 
To kindle is like a fire kindling into a flame : what is 
meant when God is represented as a consuming fire ? 

When is it right for God to destroy his creatures from 
off the face of the earth ? 

Does God ever destroy them so ? 
Explain ' Ye shall not tempt the Lord thy God.' 
Can God be tempted ? Read James i : 13. 
What was Massah, and what happened there ? Read 
Exodus xvii : 1-7. 

Did Moses tempt God there or not ? 
What now was the first thing, in the fourth and fifth verses, 
which Moses commanded the people ? 

What was the second thing, in the sixth, seventh, 
eighth, and ninth verses ? 

What was the third thing, from the tenth to the 
twelfth verse ? 

What was the fourth thing, from the thirteenth to the 
fifteenth verse ? 

. Does the sixteenth verse refer only to the fourth thing, 
or to all the four things ? 
How may tee tempt God in every one of these four things ? 



Cjmftcnilj Sxmbm 



REVIEW LESSON OF THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE YEAR. 

What are the Psalms ? 

Show how David wrote one of them when the ark of 
God was put into the Tabernacle. 



54 THE SENIOK YEAR. 

Which are the five psalms that we have learned ? 
The First Psalm. 

What is the first psalm a description of? 

What three things will not such a man do ? 

What two things will he do ? 

To what is he like ? How? 

Who is unlike him ? How ? 

What is the end of the two kinds of men ? 
The Third Psalm. 

How do we know when this psalm was written ? 

Who troubled King David and rose up against him ? 

What did they mean by saying, ' There is no help 
for him in God ' ? 

Explain 'my shield,' 'my glory/ 'the lifter up of my 
head.' 

Explain ' heard me out of his holy MIV 

Why could David sleep and have no fear of ten thou- 
sand people ? 

Explain 'Arise, Lord,' and 'cheek-bone,' and 'broke 
the teeth of the ungodly.' 

Who only has salvation to give ? 
The Nineteenth Psalm. 

Show how the psalm is divided into three parts. 

In the first part, in how many ways do the heavens 
declare God's glory ? 

In the second part of the psalm, how many things 
does David declare God's, word to be ? 

Show how David's thoughts naturally turn from the 
heavens to the law of God. 

Show how 'law,' 'testimony,' 'statutes,' 'command- 
ment,' 'fear, 'judgments,' are different ways of describ- 
ing the Scriptures. 

Why are they more to be desired than gold and 
sweeter than honey ? 

In the third part, how many things do the Scriptures 
warn us of? 

What is*' the great reward ' in keeping them ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 55 

The Twenty-Thied Psalm. 

When do you think that David wrote this psalm ? 
Why will no one want who has the Lord for his 
shepherd ? 

Explain 'restoreth my soul.' 
Explain ' valley of the shadow of death.' 
Explain 'preparest a table in the presence of ene- 
mies.' 

The Twenty-Seventh Psalm. 

Tell what you know about the time when this psalm 
was written. 

By what three names does David call God in the first 
verse ? Explain them. 

What difference is there between saying 'God is 
light' and ' the Lord is my light' ? 

Who were David's 'enemies' ? 

Explain ' eat up my flesh,' ' host encamp against me,' 
'war rise up against me.' 

Why was David * confident ' ? 

Explain 'dwell in the house of the Lord,' 'hide me in 
his pavilion,' ' set'me up upon a rock.' 

Why are David's words of triumph turned into words 
of prayer in the last half of the psalm ? 

The Song of Moses at the Red Sea. 

Describe the time and place where this song was 
sung. 

Why is it called a song ? 

Show the meaning of ' The Lord is a man of war, the 
Lord is his name.' 

What besides his power does he show ? 

Explain 'sentest forth thy wrath,' 'blast of thy nos- 
trils.' 

How has God purchased his people ? 

What did Miriam do when the song was sung ? 
. Is this the Song of Moses spoken of in the Revela- 
tion? 



56 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

The Things to be taught the Children. 

What things were these taught by Moses ? 

Why were the Hebrews then taught to teach these 
tnings to their children ? 

What two reasons are given for hearing and doing 
the commandments ? 

What was the promise to the fathers ? 

Repeat the one great command of this chapter. 

Show how many ways are mentioned in which these 
words of God are to be taught in the family. 

How many good things were promised to them in the 
land? 

What were they to beware of? Why ? 

How is God a jealous God ? 

How is it right for him to destroy any one from the 
earth ? 



^THE FORTY-SECOND PSALM. 

To the chief Musician } Maschil,for the sons ofKorah. 

1. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after 
thee, O God. 

2. My soul thirstetk for God, for the living God : when shall I come 
and appear before God ? 

3. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually 
say unto me, Where is thy God I 

4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me : for I had 
gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the 
voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 

5. Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquieted in 
me ? hope thou in God : for I shall yet praise him for the help of his 
countenance. 

6. O my God, my soul is cast down within me : therefore will I remem- 
ber thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill 
Mizar. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 57 

7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts : all thy waves 
and thy billows are gone over ine. 

8. Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and 
in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my 
life. 

9. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me ? why go 
I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy ? 

10. As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me ; while 
they say daily unto me, Where is thy God ? 

11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul ? and why art thou disquieted 
within me ? hope thou in God : for I shall yet praise him, who is the health 
of my countenance, and my God. 

What does ' to the chief musician ' mean ? 

What is the meaning of 4 Mas-chil ' ? Maschil is a 
Hebrew word meaning ' instruction ' ; and we suppose 
means that the psalm is meant especially to give instruc- 
tion to those who read it. 

Who are the ' sons of Korah ' ? 

The only Korah that we know any thing about is the Korah 
who was destroyed in Moses' time, with two hundred and fifty 
other persons, for daring to offer strange incense, as you may 
read in Numbers xvi : 1-35. But in Numbers xxvi : 11, you 
may see that Korah' s children did not die ; and in Saul's time 
the sons or children of Korah were gate-keepers of the Taber- 
nacle, as the nineteenth verse of I. Chronicles ix shows. 
Though the father was destroyed, yet the children might have 
become singers in the Tabernacle worship. 

We do not know whether David wrote the psalm or not, but 
we suppose he did. Some writers think that one of the sons 
of Korah wrote it. 

What is a 'hart'? 

'I have seen large flocks of these panting harts,' says the 
missionary Thompson, 'gather round the water-brooks in the 
great deserts of Central Syria, so subdued by thirst that you 
could approach quite near them before they fled.' 
What only can satisfy a thirsty hart ? 
What only can satisfy a thirsty soul ? 



58 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Explain ' My soul tJiirsteth fpr God,' and tell whether it is 
the same as 'panteth for thee, God.' 

What the difference between 'God' and the 'living 
God ' ? Answer. One is God in the greatness of his 
character, and the other God as the source of his soul's 
life. See the end of the eighth verse. 
Think of the difference between water and living water. 

Is it true that in ancient times people '.could come 
and appear before God' at one place more than an- 
other ? Read Deuteronomy xii : 5-12 ; I. Kings ix : 3. 

Is it true that God is now more present in one place 
than in another ? 

At what special places can we come and appear be- 
fore God ? 
'.My tears have been my meat' : give another figure of speech 
from the Bible which explains this. Read and explain Psalm 
lxxx : 5 and cii : 4. 

' When one is in great sadness, his tears become in a man- 
ner his food; he eats and drinks, as it were, more tears than 
bread or other food.' 

Who is meant by 'they' in 'they say continually' ? 
See the tenth verse. 

Why did they say, ' Where is thy God ' ? 

We must think of David, far from the Tabernacle, driven 
away perhaps by Absalom, his enemies taunting him for his 
piety, and sneeringly asking him where his God is now. 

Explain the last part of this verse by Psalms lxxi : 10, 11, 
and xxii : 7, 8. 

His enemies may not be saying these things all the time ; 
but to one in such sadness, what they say rings in the ears as 
if they said it continually. 

. What things are 'these things' in the fourth verse ? 

What is it to ' pour out my soul in me ' ? Read 
Psalm xxii : 14. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 59 

Is ''For I had gone with the multitude' the reason 
for pouring out his soul or not ? 

The remembrance of that happy, holy time, when he went 
with the companies of God's people up to the Tabernacle to 
worship, praising the Lord with joyful voices — a great multi- 
tude of them — fills his heart with sadness. 

"What is the difference between 'cast down' and 'disquiet- 
ed ' in the fifth verse ? 

It is as if the soul were another person, whose face is bowed 
dfiwn to the earth with grief, and whose heart is so excited 
with sorrow that he cannot be quiet. 

Does c hope thou in God ' mean ' hope that God will 
come to deliver,' or ' find all thy hope in God' ? 

What reason is given why the soul should hope in 
God? 

If a person brings wisdom and cheerfulness and hope in his 
face, or if his face be the face of a strong, personal friend, then 
his face gives as real help as his hand or arm. 

In reading the sixth verse put the emphasis on ' is. 1 ' my 
God, my soul is cast down within me.' He tries to cheer up 
his soul, but it is cast down. 

What is the meaning of ' therefore ' ? Answer. Be- 
cause my soul is cast down within me, for this reason 
will I remember thee, etc. 

The remedy for discouragement and despondency of heart, 
then, is remembrance of God. 

What is meant by 4 land of the Jordan ' ? 
Where were c the Hermonites ' ? 

The Hermonites are the double-headed peak of Mount Her- 
mon across the Jordan, away in the north. Even from these 



60 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

distant regions will I remember thee, just as David said at 
another time, * From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee/ 

What was * the hill Mi-zar ' ? Answer. Mizar means 
little. We don't know whether there was any hill 
named Mizar or not. It may mean * from the little hill.' 

* If I cannot be on the heights of Jerusalem, and of the hill 
of Zion, I will remember thee from this little hill where I am.' 

If we are kept from the house of God by sickness or afflic- 
tion, we can say, ' I cannot go up with the great congregation, 
but I will remember thee from my own little place.' 

Explain the figures of speech in the seventh verse. 

One billow calleth for another to follow it, and one trouble 
after another comes upon me, as if each calls the next to fol- 
low. Or. the roar of the billows responding to the floods of 
rain, 4 the deep " of the sea answering to * the deep ' of the 
clouds, like the noise of a waterspout, represents the heavy 
waves of trouble. 

In the seventh* verse you see nothing but grief and gloom ; 
in the eignth verse hope comes again. 

What three things does David predict for himself in 
the eighth verse ? 

He can even think of the songs of God's house, although 
all the waves and billows go over him. When the billows 
threaten his death, his prayer is unto the God of life. 

What does he call God in the ninth verse ? 

How is God a rock in waves and billows ? 
What enemy is this and why is he mourning ? 
What is meant by * as with a sword in my bones ' ? 

Their reproach is as sharp and torturing as if they did it 
With a sword thrust through my very bones. 

What does the last part of this verse show their re- 
proach is ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 61 

What are the reasons given in the last verse for hop- 
ing in God ? 

"When David shall praise God again in his sanctuary, then 
he will prove his enemies to be false, and that God is every 
thing that he said he was. 

How does health of my countenance differ from help 
of my countenance in the fifth verse ? 

'And my God': He whom he speaks of in the first and 
second verses only as ' God ' and 4 the living God,' he now 
says is ' my God/ 



Jfxftmtllj Swtbag, 

THE FORTY-SIXTH PSALM. 

To the chief Musician for the so?iS of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. 

1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

2. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth he removed, and though 
the mountains he carried into the midst of the sea ; 

3. Though the waters thereof roar and he troubled, though the moun- 
tains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. 

4. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, 
the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. 

5. God is in the midst of her ; she shall mot be moved : God shall help 
her, and that right early. 

6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved : he uttered his voice, 
the earth melted. 

7. The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 

8. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made 
in the earth. 

9. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth ; he breaketh the 
bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder ; he burnetii the chariot in the fire. 

10. Be still, and know that I am God : I will be exalted among the hea- 
then, I will be exalted in the earth. 

11. The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 
Selah. 



62 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Explain the title to the psalm. 

'Upon Alamoth' means 'by maidens,' and A Song by 
Maidens means, we suppose, by female voices, or, as we would 
say, A Song to be sung by Soprano or Treble Voices. 

This is one of the finest and best of all the psalms. If you 
will look through it, you will see that it is divided into three 
parts, and Selah at the end of each part. At the end of the 
'second part and at the end of the third part you will see the 
same things said as at the beginning of the first part. 

David did not probably write the psalm. Some writers have 
thought that it was written and sung first after the great 
army of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, was destroyed in one 
night by a plague sent by God. If you will read II. Kings 
xviii : 13-16, you will see how the king came and how King 
Hezekiah tried to get rid of him. If you read on to the twen- 
ty-fifth verse, you will see how Sennacherib brought his great 
army against Jerusalem, how his general, Rab-shakeh, insulted 
.God, and, in the nineteenth chapter, how Isaiah told King 
Hezekiah to be of good courage, and how, when the army 
came a second time, God smote the army with death. 

Some writers think that Isaiah or Hezekiah wrote this psalm 

then to celebrate the victory. 

« 

What does i upon Alamoth ' mean ? 

When have some persons supnosed the psalm was 
written ? 
What is a 'refuge' ? 

What was a city of refuge ? 

What two other things is God said to be in the first 
verse ? 

How is God ' our strength ' ? 

When is he a help ? At no other time ? 
4 Therefore will not we fear ' : why ? 

You can hardly think of a time when you would be more 
likely to fear than when the earth is removed and the moun- 
tains carried out into the midst of the sea. 



- THE SENIOR YEAR. 63 

What do 'the waters thereof and 'the swelling thereof 
mean ? 

How do the mountains shake with the swelling of the 
sea ? 

You should think of the great ocean rolling in a tempest 
and striking its heavy blows against the foot of a moun- 
tain, so that the very mountain seems to shake. You should 
think of one who says ' God is my refuge and strength,' sitting 
without fear and watching calmly the quaking of the earth and 
the overthrow of mountains, hearing and seeing the roar and 
dash and foam of the waters. What would you yourself care, 
if you should be in such a place, if you knew that he who said, 
4 Peace, be still ' on the Lake of Galilee, were by your side and 
were your friend ? 

What city was meant by the ' city of God ' ? 

What river or stream was there in that city ? 
What has the mention of a river here to do with the 
descriptions in the verses before ? 

Although the earth be shaking, the sea roaring, the moun- 
tains carried out into the sea, and the whole world in commo- 
tion, yet Jerusalem and the Temple shall be so quiet that not 
even this little brook of Siloah shall be turned out of its 
course. 

In what way does a river make a city glad ? 

If this psalm was written in the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah, 
then there is a^ striking description of this same river and the 
same turbulent waters in Isaiah viii : 6, 7, in which the soft, 
flowing waters of Shiloh represent the peaceful piety at Jerusa- 
lem ; and the strong waters of a mighty river, with many chan- 
nels flowing over all their banks and filling the land of Judah 
far and wide, represent the King of Assyria coming with his 
army to overrun the whole country. 

Why is l tabernacles ' used and not tabernacle if the 
Tabernacle is meant ? Answer. Because there were 
many rooms and courts for priests and other persons. 



64 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Does ' in the midst of her ' mean in the midst of the city or 
of the tabernacles ? 

1 She shall not be moved ' : what two reasons why 
she shall not be moved, the one before and the other 
after this middle clause ? 
When shall God help her ? 

'Right early' might be translated 'at the turning of the 
morning' ; that is, at the very dawn of day. If you think this 
psalm written after Sennacherib's army was destroyed, and 
will read Isaiah xxxvii : 36, you will see how God did help his 
people right early* in the morning. 

How many separate actions are described in the sixth verse ? 

The sixth verse is one of the most vivid and rapid poetical 
descriptions of the psalms. First you see the heathen — that 
is, all nations outside Judea — raging with anger, like the As- 
syrians against God's capital ; then you see the kingdoms 
moved, the thrones and governments excited against Jerusa- 
lem and God ; then you hear God uttering his voice, speaking 
in a terrible miracle or pestilence, as in Sennacherib's army 
that night ; then you see the earth, that is, people in all their 
hearts melting with fear and awe at his power. Nations rag- 
ing ! kingdoms moving ! God's voice speaking ! the earth 
melting ! 

Is God's voice represented as increasing or decreasing 
the commotion and excitement ? 
What does ' Lord of hosts ' mean ? 

Why is God here called the God of Jacob ? 

Notice the contrast between verses six and seven. Yerse 
six represents the dissolving of the world ; verse seven, the 
security of the kingdom of God. The whole earth is in uproar 
and confusion ; peoples rage, kingdoms reel ; but that God who 
decrees plague or earthquake in defence of his people is their 
protection and help, so that they stand firm and secure amid 
the general desolations. 



THE SENIOK YEAR. . 05 

If you really believe that the Omipotent God is your 
own loving Father, is it possible for you to be disturbed ? 

The third part of the psalm begins with the eighth verso. 
The commotions are over, and we go out to see the battle-field 
on which God overthrew his enemies. As if, after Sennache- 
rib's army, or what was left of it, had fled, the people of Jeru- 
salem had gone out to see the dead and the spoil and the wea- 
pons of the Assyrian army left behind. 

What works of God does the eighth verse call us to come 
and behold ? 

Are these ' desolations ' the desolations of Sennache- 
rib's army, or all the desolations of war? 

Do you understand 'wars to cease unto the end of 
the earth ' to mean that wars had then ceased ? 

The principal nations at that time were Assyria, Egypt, Ara- 
bia, Ethiopia. Perhaps they were at peace after Sennacherib 
was slain : then wars might actually have ceased unto the 
end of the earth. 

"What does he do to the bow and spear and chariot ? 
Do you understand this literally or figuratively ? 

Perhaps the writer of the psalm is thinking how such a bat- 
tle-field looked with its pieces of bows and spears and the 
wooden chariots burning with fire. 

Who speaks in the tenth verse ? 

What special reason is there for keeping silence ? 

Sennacherib had come with great boasts and with a great 
army. And yet God, in a single night, destroyed his army 
and sent him home to be slain by his sons. So easy is it for 
God to turn man's mighty plans to desolation, so that all 
people shall see it and be still. 

Does c I will be exalted among the heathen' refer only to the 
future ? 



66- THE SENIOR YEAR. 

How was God exalted among the heathen in the de- 
struction of Sennacherib's army ? 

Explain the last verse. 

What other two verses of the psalm is it like ? 

See how the psalm is bound together in these three like 
verses, as with three golden girdles. And each girdle has in 
it two strands, the two strong ideas of the psalm — God our 
strength and God our refuge. 

What great time of the shaking and dissolving of na- 
tions is there sure to be in the future ? 

Who will be the only safe refuge and strength for us 
then? 



THE FIFTY- FIRST PSALM. 

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet 
came unto him, after he had gone i?i to Bath-sheoa. 

1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness : ac- 
cording unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgres- 
sions. 

2. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my 
sin. 

3. For I acknowledge my transgressions : and my sin is ever before me. 

4. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done tpis evil in thy sight : 
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou 
judgest. 

5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive 
me. 

6. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts : and in the hidden 
part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 

7. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be 
whiter than snow. 

8. Make me to hear joy and gladness ; that the bones which thou hast 
broken may rejoice. 

9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities 

To whom is this psalm addressed in the title ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 67 

Does this address show that the psalm was intended 
for public or private use' ? 

David had committed two great and awful crimes — adultery 
and murder — crimes plainly and boldly against three of the 
Ten Commandments, the sixth, seventh, and tenth. These 
crimes were worse in David than in another person, because he 
was king. Besides, what David had done in bringing the ark 
to Jerusalem, in the public praise of God in the Tabernacle, 
led every body to expect that he would be always pure and 
innocent. And after what God had done for David in making 
him king, what a horrid and impious crime for David to forget 
God and break his laws. 

Kepeat the three commandments which David dis- 
obeyed ? 

Who was the prophet Nathan mentioned in the title? 
Read II. Samuel xii : 1-10. 

Who was Bath-sheba ? Read II. Samuel xi : 3 and 
xii : 9. 

What is the parable which Nathan told David ? 

What did David say as soon as he knew what the 
parable meant ? See II. Samuel xii : 13. 

This 'psalm, then, is the confession of David for these ter- 
rible crimes which he had committed. One of them led to 
another, until the great and good and tender-hearted David was 
a cruel murderer. 

Who was it that he murdered ? 
What is the meaning of ' Have mercy ' ? 

Can a person ask for God's mercy who has not 
sinned ? 

For what reason does he ask l Have mercy according 
unto thy Jovinglcindness ' t 

Does .David, in the second part of the first verse, 
speak of his" guilt as only one sin, or more ? 

How many wicked thoughts David must have had during all 
the time that he was planning to kill Uriah ; so that he not 



68 ' THE SENIOR YEAR. 

only has been guilty of transgressing the sixth, seventh, and 
tenth commandments, but of many transgressions in thought, 
word, and deed. 

Show the difference between * lovingkindness and 
tender mercies.' 

David speaks of the multitude of God's tender mercies, as 
if, if God had not a great multitude of mercies, there would 
not be enough to pardon the multitude of his sins. 

Why does David say, ' Wash me thoroughly ' and l cleanse 
me ' ? Head Jeremiah ii : 22. 

Why does he say ' my sin,'' and not my sins ? 
Could a person really say this to God and not be in 
pain on account of his sin ? 

There was one great sin which was always before him, and 
all his other sins were small compared with that. 

What reason does he give in the third verse ichy his sins 
should be ' washed ' and * cleansed ' ? 

Is saying 'My sin is ever before me' the same as 'I 
acknowledge ' my transgression ? 

By saying to God, ' God, my sin is ever before me : it is 
always in my thoughts,' he does acknowledge to God his feel- 
ing of sin. 

Which comes first in us, forgiveness or the conviction 
of our sin ? 

Which comes first, forgiveness or the acknowledg- 
ment of our sin ? 

Is acknowledgment of our sins to God any reason 
why God should forgive us ? 

Is the sight of our own sin always before our eyes 
any reason why we should confess it to God ? 

What evil is meant by l this evil ' in the fourth verse ? 

Explain how 'this evil' was done 'against thee, and 
thee only ' ? 
He had been so unthankful and forgetful of God who had 






THE SENIOR YEAR. 69 

raised him from a poor boy to his throne, that all his great 
guilt against Uriah seemed little in comparison with his sin 
against God. 

Does the last half of this verse mean, 'I acknow- 
ledge my sins 7 'that thou mightest be justified when 
thou speakest to condemn me,' etc., or, ' I have sinned 
against thee, thee only,' so that it may be seen that 
thou art 'justified when thou speakest,' etc. ? 

What does 'justified ' mean ? 

Does 'be clear' 1 when 'thou judgest' mean be clear 
when he judges of David's sin, or when he sits as judge 
of ail things ? 

In the fifth and sixth verses, he gives a second reason why he 
should be forgiven — because he is by nature sinful and needs 
to be changed to a holy life. 

What is the meaning of ' I was shapen in iniquity' ? Answer. 
When my body was formed at the first, I was sinful. 

Explain ' In sin did my mother conceive me.' Answer. 
As soon as I was born into the world. I was sinful. 

Do you think this verse a proof that we are all born 
sinful ? 
Does ' desirest truth ' mean only truthfulness of words 

What is meant by the ' inward parts' and the ' hidden 
parts ' ? Answer. The very thoughts of the soul. 

Adultery, murder, and coveting are commonly secret sins ; 
they are loved and kept in the secret thoughts of the soul. 

What does ' make me to know wisdom in the hidden 
part ' mean ? Answer. As thou dost wish holiness 
within, so make me wise to be holy within. 

What is ' hyssop,' and how was it used in those days ? 
Read Exodus xii : 22 ; Leviticus xiv : 4-7, 51 ; and Numbers 

xix : 6, 18. 

' This unseemly shrub, which thrives on rubbish and walls, 
symbolic of divine condescension, mixed with the noble wood 



70 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

of the cedar, symbolic of divine majesty v used to be employed 

in purifying from sin and lepros}^. Both the greatness and 

the condescension of God are needed for the recovery of man.' 

Did hyssop itself purify a person ? 

When David repented of these sins, would he go to 

the Tabernacle with hyssop and with washing? 

Is the verse, then, any thing more than the figurative 
language used in Isaiah i : 16 and 18 ? 
What is meant by ' hearing joy and gladness 7 ? 

Explain i the bones which thou hast broken.' 
When God showed David how wicked he had been, his 
wretchedness was as great as if God had broken his bones. 

Explain how these broken bones rejoice? Read 
Isaiah lxvi : 14. 
Explain the meaning of 'Hide thy face from my sins.' 

Show how ' blot out all my iniquities ' differs from it. 

When he prays that God will hide his face /row his sins, it 
is as if there was a book in which his sins are written, from 
which he prays God to turn away his face. When he prays 
that God will blot them out, he prays that the record of them 
on the pages may be destroyed. 



THE FIFTY-FIRST PSALM. 

10. Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within 
me. 

11. Cast me not away from thy presence ; and take not thy Holy Spirit 
from me. 

12. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation ; and uphold me with thy 
free Spirit. 

13. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; and sinners shall be con- 
verted unto thee. 

14. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation : 
and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 

15. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy 
praise. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 71 

16. For thou desirest not sacrifice ; else would I give it : thou delightest 
not in burnt offering. 

17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a broken and a contrite 
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 

18. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion : build thou the walls of 
Jerusalem. 

19. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with 
burnt offering and whole burnt offering : then shall they offer bullocks upon 
thine altar. " 

David had prayed that his past sins might be blotted out. 
Now he prays that his heart might be made new, so that he 
would not commit future sins. 

Does * create in me a clean heart ■ mean simply that an un- 
clean heart be made clean, or that an entirely new heart be 
created ? 

If God should hide his face from our sins and blot 
out all our iniquities, would there then be any need to 
have a new heart created in us ? 

If all past sins are taken away and we still have a bad heart, 
more sins will come again unless the heart be changed. 

Can we get a new heart without God creating it in 
us? 
Will God create it in us unless we are willing ? 
What is meant by ' a right spirit ' ? 
■ Does 'renew* show that he had had a right spirit 
before ? 
What are the two parts of the eleventh verse ? 

Was the Holy Spirit given in David's time ? Read 
John vii : 39. 

It was because he forgot that God's presence and Spirit only 
could keep him that he fell into sin ; and, therefore, when he 
recovered, he might well cry, ' Cast me not away from thy pre- 
sence ; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.' 

Does 'the joy of thy salvation' mean the pleasure of know- 
ing that he is saved, or the pleasures of that life which begins 
with being forgiven ? 



72 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What does i Restore ' show about his having had this 
joy before ? 

What does ' uphold me ' show that he feared ? 

In the first and second verses of the psalm we see what sor- 
row for sin is ; in the third and fourth verses we see what con- 
fession of sin is ; in the fifth and sixth verses we see how sin- 
ful sin is ; in the seventh, eighth, and ninth verses we see 
that sin may oe forgiven; and from the tenth verse to the 
twelfth we see that we may be kept from further sin. 

What is the one thing spoken ofj then, in all the 
verses ? 
Notice now that in the rest of the psalm David speaks of 
what he expects to do after he is pardoned. 

4 Then will I teach ' : when ? 

' Transgressors ' : transgressors of what ? 

The word transgressor means a person who goes over a 
boundary or line, and the ways of God are the lines or bounda- 
ries which God has marked out within which we should walk. 
To 4 teach transgressors thy ways ' is to teach those who have 
gone over the boundaries to come back and walk within them. 

What is a sinner ? 
What does ' converted ' mean ? 

Do you think a person is converted who never thinks 
of leading others to love and serve God ? 
What does ' Deliver me from blood-guiltiness ' refer to ? Read 
II. Samuel xii : 9. 

You can see, too, from II. Samuel xi : 14-17, that other per- 
sons besides Uriah may have been killed in obedience to David's 
command. 

What does David call God in this verse ? 

When David thinks of his great crimes of murder and of the 
greatness of God's goodness in redeeming him, his heart flows 
out in large admiration of God as the wonderful God of his 
salvation. 



THE SENIOB YEAR. ^3 

4 And my tongue shall sing' : for what reason would 
it sing ? 

It would sing of what ? 

Does he mean that God's righteousness would be 
shown in delivering him from blood-guiltiness ? 
Repeat the fifteenth verse, putting the emphasis on i thou.' 
Does opening the lips mean giving the power to speak 
words, or the power to speak exalted praise in songs 
' and worship ? 

It is as if David had said, ■ Lord, if thou open my lips to 
praise thee, then indeed shall my mouth give such praise as is 
due to thee.' 

How is it that God does not desire sacrifice, when he himself 
had given the commands to sacrifice ? 

Explain the l For ' at the beginning of the verse. 

It is as if it was written in this way : ' and my mouth shall 
show forth thy praise. For it is true praise thou dost require, 
and not mere sacrifice.' 

How did burnt-offering differ from sacrifice ? 

Some sacrifices were offered or presented in the Tabernacle 
and Temple to God and then taken away, but burnt-offerings 
were animals entirely burnt upon the altar. 

Did not God delight in burnt-offering when he him- 
self commanded it ? 
What does 4 The sacrifices of God ' mean ? 
What is a ' broken spirit ' ? 

A spirited person often means a wilful person ; that is, a 
person whose will is held firm and strong against others. A 
broken will is a broken spirit, When horses are trained to go 
in the harness, we say they are IroTcen to the harness. We 
mean their will or their spirit is broken, and that they are sub- 
duecl and gentle. 

What is the difference between i broken' and 'con- 
trite'? 



74 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Why will not God despise a broken and contrite 
spirit ? 

But most men will despise a broken and contrite spirit ; they 
like to see spirit or independence, and have contempt for a 
lowly and humble spirit. 

See now how, in the last two verses, David wishes the 
Church to be prospered as well as himself. 

"What is meant by Zion ? 

i 

David was the chief leader of the praises of Zion, and his 
wicked sin might bring reproach and contempt from the peo- 
ple on the divine worship. God might even destroy it for the 
king's great sin. But David now feels so sure that he is for- 
given that he ventures to pray that Zion may be pleasant unto 
God and Jerusalem may be enlarged. 

What is meant by ' building the walls of Jerusalem ' ? 
What are 4 sacrifices of righteousness ' ? 

When animals were sacrificed by persons who had no heart 
in the sacrifice, but who thought only of the animal and of kill- 
ing and burning it, they were unrighteous or hypocritical sacri- 
fices. But sacrifices which had prayer and a sincere heart 
with them were sacrifices of righteousness. 

What is the difference between burnt-oifering- and 
whole burnt-offering ? Read I. Samuel vii : 9. 

But what is the victim for our burnt-offering ? Read 
Hebrews ix : 28 and John i : 29. 



THE SIXTY-SEVENTH PSALM. 

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song. 

1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us ; a?id cause his face to shine 
upon us. Selah. 

2. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among 
all nations. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 75 

3. Let the people praise thee, O God ; let all the people praise thee. 

4. O let the nations he glad and sing for joy : for thou shalt judge the 
people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. 

5. Let the people praise thee, O God ; let all the people praise thee. 

6. Then shall the earth yield her increase ; and God, even our owd 
God, shall hless us. 

7. God shall hless us ; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. 

This psalm is one of the psalms, it is thought, which was 
sung in the Tabernacle and Temple on the Hebrews' Thanks- 
giving Day. The day of Thanksgiving or days of Thanksgiv- 
ing were the Feast of Tabernacles, which lasted eight days. 
~\Ye should think of the caravans of people coming up to Jeru- 
salem in the month of October, from north, south, east, and 
west, through all the land. The early crops and fruits — like 
barley, grapes, and olives — are ripe, and it is the beginning of 
harvest. The people bring a bunch or basket of the first fruits 
that are ripe. As they come within the walls of Jerusalem 
they begin to build little houses or tents of green branches 
to live in while they are in the city. The city people too 
come out of their houses, and build these little green-branch 
houses to live in themselves. And at lengiji, by the beginning 
of the feast, the city is crowded fall of these little green booths, 
till we see them along every street, and on the flat house-tops, 
and on the walls, and even outside the walls. And during all 
that happy week of thanks to God for Jiis goodness through 
the year, the people gather in great congregations in the Tem- 
ple ; and in their worship they sing such psalms as this. 

When is it supposed that this psalm was sung ? 
Describe the Feast of Tabernacles. 

^Neg-i-noth' means stringed instruments. And the title 
means, To the leader of the stringed instruments in the temple 
choir. 

In the first verse does the psalmist speak of God or to God ? 
What blessing is here repeated as a prayer ? Read 
Numbers vi : 23-25. 
Show the difference between the three parts of the 



16 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

verse : ' Be merciful unto us/ ' bless us,' ' cause thy 
face to shine upon us.' 

Light shines from the face of a friend, when he loves us and 
is doing us favor ; his face is dark when he frowns, or is dis- 
pleased. Read Psalm xxxi : 16 ; lxxxix : 15. 
AVhat does 'Selah' mean? 
What is the meaning of 'thy way'? Read Psalm ciii:7; 
Isaiah lv : 8. 

It is a common thing to hear a person speak of his way of 
doing any thing ; or say, ' My way is different from your way.' 
Sometimes 'my way' means simply my manner of doing a 
thing, and sometimes it means my whole conduct. 

Was not God's way known on earth before the psalm- 
ist prayed this prayer ? 

What does ' saving health ' mean ? 
What is opposite to ' health ' ? to ' saving health ' ? 
What proof can you bring from the Scriptures that 
the soul is diseased ? 

What proof can you bring that this destructive dis- 
ease of the soul is among all nations ? 

How can this saving health be brought to the souls 
diseased ? 
Is the third verse a prayer or an ascription of praise to 
God? 

Does it mean the people of Judea or the people of the 
earth ? 

Does it mean, ' Let all the people praise thee in glad- 
ness/ or, 'Let them by their overthrow show how just 
and excellent thou art ' ? 

Does it mean praise thee for salvation or for thy ex- 
cellence ? 
What difference is there between 'the nations' and 'the 
people ' in the third and fourth verses ? 

You can hardly think of a more happy sight than of all the 
different nations, full of gladness in their different lands, and 
singing for joy at the thought of God's goodness and love. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. V7 

Does true religion give gladness to people or not ? 

What is the reason given in this verse why the na- 
tions should be glad, and sing for joy ? 

What is the difference between judging and govern- 
iny the people ? 

Explain 'judge the people righteously.' 

Why is the fact that God is a righteous judge, and is 
Governor of nations, a glad and happy thing ? 

Is it a glad and happy thing to those who do not 
yield to him ? 
Can you give any reason why the exact words of the third 
verse are repeated in the fifth verse ? 

The praise of all the nations seems to David such a glad and 
happy thing, and God seems to him so good and worthy of all 
praise, that he says over again out of his full and happy heart : 
4 Oh ! that this were so ! Oh ! let them sing unto thee ! Let 
the people praise thee, God ; let all the people praise thee.' 

What is the 4 increase ' of the earth ? 

4 Then shall the earth yield her increase ' : will the 
earth yield any better increase of fruits and crops and 
flowers when all people praise God ? Why ? 

The sixth verse might be translated, * The earth has yielded 
her increase ' ; and, if that is the true meaning of it, then the 
psalm would seem to show that the psalm was sung after 
the harvest was gathered. 

What proofs can you give that thanksgiving for a - 
fruitful soil and good harvests is especially pleasing to 
God? 

Can you prove that the fruit and the good seasons are 
designed by God to give us gladness ? See Acts xiv : IT. 

What is meant by 4 bless us ' ? Eead Leviticus xxvi : 
3, 4 ; and Hosea xiv : 6-9. 

4 God, even our own God' : is God any more the God 
of one people than of another ? 
Why is 4 God shall bless us' repeated in the last verse ? 



78 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What are c all the ends of the earth ' ? 

Does fear him mean be afraid of him or reverence 
him? 

"Will all the ends of the earth fear him on account of 
the blessing on the Hebrew nation t 

It is as if David had said, 4 And because God shall bless us, 
therefore all the ends of the earth shall fear him.' 

Perhaps this psalm was sung in responses — one part of the 
choir answering to another. You can see how easily it might 
be sung so, with great spirit and beauty and power. If you 
think of one voice or one part of the choir in the temple sing- 
ing- the first verse, another voice or part of the choir singing 
the second verse, and a chorus singing the third verse, then of 
the first voice singing the fourth verse, and the chorus again 
the fifth verse, and then the second voice singing the sixth 
verse, and the chorus ending the psalm, you can feel how the 
swelling hearts of the people would be lifted up in high thanks- 
giving for the fruits and crops of their good land. 



Ilirattcnffj Smitrmr. 



THE EIGHTY-FOURTH PSALM. 
To the chief Musician upon Gittit7i, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. 

1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. 

2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord : my 
heart and my flesh* crieth out for the living God. 

3. Yea, the sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for her- 
self, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my 
King, and my God. 

4. Blessed" are they that dwell in thy house : they will be still praising 
thee. Selah. 

5. Elessed is the man whose strength is in thee ; in whose heart are the 
ways of them. 

6. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well ; the rain 
also filleth the pools. 

7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appear- 
eth before G od. 



THE SENIOK YEAH. 79 

We do not know the exact meaning of Gittith. We sup- 
pose that it means a musical instrument of some kind, which 
was called Gittith either because the Gitti, who lived in Gath, 
used it, or because it was shaped like a wine-press, which is 
the meaning of Gath and Gitti in Hebrew. It is supposed that 
it was a joyful and lively instrument. 

Whoever wrote this psalm speaks in the ninth verse of' 
himself as the anointed ; that is, as the anointed king. It was 
very likely David himself. 

There are two parts to the psalm. The first seven verses are 
a praise of God's house ; the last five verses are a prayer that 
God will hear and bless him in his house. 

What is the meaning of Gittith ? 

Explain the ' chief Musician upon Gittith ' ? 

Who were 'the sons of Korah' ? 

Who wrote the psalm ? 
What are ' amiable'' tabernacles ? 

We mean by an amiable person a sweet-tempered or even- 
tempered and gentle person. A house or a tabernacle cannot 
be, of course, sweet-tempered and gentle. But it may be so 
associated in our minds with sweet and gentle thoughts that it 
has the same influence on us as a sweet-tempered and gentle 
person. 

What is meant by ' Lord of hosts ' ? 
Does courts of the Lord mean the courts about the Taberna- 
cle or the whole house of God ? 

Show the difference between ' longeth for ' and ' faint- 
eth for/ 

Show the difference between 'my soul' and 'my 
heart and my flesh. ' 

Notice how these three things together express and contain 
the whole nature of man. 

Which is the most intense expression of desire for 
God's house, 'longeth for' or 'fainteth for' or 'crieth out 
for'? 



80 THE SENIOR YEAH. 

Explain the meaning of ' living God.' Remember the 
forty-second psalm. 

Can the soul be satisfied without having the life of 
God communicated to it ? 
Describe the difference between c a sparrow' and a ' swallow.' 
Which is more a house-bird than the other ? 
Would sparrows or swallows be allowed to build their 
nests exactly on or under the altars ? 
David does not mean, we suppose, exactly on or about the 
altars, but in the buildings which contained the altars. All 
the buildings together were like one altar unto God. -'The 
walls of the Tabernacle were wooden, a yard deep, hung with 
carpets, and over these was a double leather-hanging. The 
courts contained columns with caps where birds might easily 
build their nests.' The missionary Thompson says the spar- 
rows hold very fast their right to the ' place where they have 
nestled, and have not the least reverence for any place or thing. 
David alludes to these characteristics of the sparrow when he 
complains that they had appropriated even the altars of God 
for their nests.' 

But why is it that David speaks at all of the nests of 
swallows in the sanctuary ? 

Because he was away from the Tabernacle, and his soul 
longed to fly to the Tabernacle as a bird flies to her nest in the 
Tabernacle walls. % He thinks that, as a little bird is at home, 
warm and happy in her nest, so his soul is at home and peace 

and rest in God's house. 

• 

What does the swallow leave in her nest which shows 
that she feels her nest is safe ? 

i Like a little bird, which, after a long wandering, has a nest 
to dwell in and to which it may trust its dearest thing, her 
young, so have I, a poor wanderer, found safety and protection 
in thy house, Lord of hosts.' 

Explain the difference between l Lord of hosts' and 
4 my King' and 'my God.' 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 81 

David the king calls God Ms king — a noble example to his 
people. 

David gives thanks, as if he said : ' My soul, a poor little 
bird, has now found its right house and rest, namely, thy 
altars ; and if it had not found God's amiable house, I must 
have been forever flying about out of the right way ' — like an 
owl in the desert, like a lonely turtle-dove. 

What is the meaning of c blessed ' ? 

What persons were there, then, who dwelt in God's 
house ? 

What does ' still praising thee' mean ? Answer. Con- 
tinually praising thee. 
Explain ' whose strength is in thee.' 

The strength of a child may be in his father's protection : 
the strength of a general may be in his army : the strength of 
a king in his subjects : the strength of a subject in his king. 
The strength of a rich man maybe in the bank where he 
leaves his money : the strength of a writer in the books which 
he has written : the strength of a farmer in his lands : and 
surely the strength of a worshipper is in God's house. 

What words at the end of this verse are printed in 
italic? Why? 

If you leave off the words ' of them,' then the meaning of -the 
last part of the verse probably is ' in whose heart are the ways,' 
the ways which lead up to God's house ; that is, who are fond- 
ly thinking of going up along the roads to Jerusalem and the 
Tabernacle. And then leaving off the i wlio' > from the next 
verse, the verse begins a new sentence, and it will read 'Pass- 
ing through the valley of Baca, on their way up to Zion, they 
make it a well.' 

The valley of Baca is supposed to have been some valley 
through which the travellers up to Jerusalem passed. There 
is an old story that the Arabian Baca-tree, when its leaf is cut, 
gives out a tear of sap ; and some persons have supposed the 
valley of Baca means the valley of.Baca-trees. The word Baca 



82 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

means weeping, and whether the verse means valley of Baca- 
trees, that is, weeping trees or the valley of weeping, the mean- 
ing is really the same. 

The meaning is, that those whose strength is in God, though 
they go through the valley of weeping, make their very tears a 
well of water to their thirsty hearts. 

Explain the meaning of ' valley of Baca.' 
What other valley does David speak of in one of his 
psalms ? See Psalm xxiii : 4. 

Could he make that valley turn to joy ? 

4 The rain also filleth the pools ' : not only do such persons 
find a refreshing well where others weep as if in a dry and 
thirsty land, but they are as joyful as if the rain had watered 
the earth, left the pools standing full of water, and the whole 
valley green and beautiful. 4 Pilgrims forget the scanty supply 
at the inn when they have abundance in view ; Israelites going 
up to the Passover made light of deficient water, for their 
hearts were set on Jerusalem.' 

Explain 'the rain also filleth the pools/ 
What is the reason why such persons turn every 
trouble to pleasure ? 

Hardly any thing will trouble you on a journey if your heart 
is full of the happy place to which you are going. 

What does ' they go from strength to strength ! mean ? 

Yerse fifth spoke of 'the man whose strength is in thee.' 
But as he goes up to Jerusalem and to the Tabernacle, he gains 
one degree of strength after another. He rises step by step in 
strength, just as he goes step by step out of the valley up the 
mountains toward Jerusalem. 

. l Every one of them' : every one of whom ? 
i Appeareth in Zion before God ' : explain it. 

Every such traveller will come to Jerusalem and to God's 
house, and, appearing before God in his sanctuary, will praise 
him there. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 83 



Ciuenfteilj Suntrag. 

THE EIGHTY-FOURTH PSALM. 

8. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer : give ear, O God of Jacob. 
Selah. 

9. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. 

10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be 
a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wick- 
edness. 

11. For the Lord God in a sun and shield : the Lord will give grace 
and glory : no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 

12. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. 

Recite the psalm from the beginning. 

The second part of the psalm begins with the eighth verse. 
It is a prayer after the praise of the first part. See how, as 
his heart swells with the spirit of devotion, he enlarges his ad- 
dress to God. At first' he said, c Lord of hosts' ; but now, 
as if he was dwelling upon every word he utters, ' — Lord — 
God — of — hosts. ' 

When he says i hear my prayer/ does he mean hear always 
my prayer when I offer it in thy courts, or, hear my prayer 
which I now offer to thee ? 

Describe the attitude of the body which is represented 
by 'give ear.' 

What is meant by ' God of Jacob ' ? Answer. 
God who wast Jacob's God in his journeys and blessed 
him in his prosperous life. 

David's glowing thoughts have gone up with the caravan of 
worshippers from height to height to Jerusalem and entered 
the Temple, and now he begins to pray as if he were really 
there in body. 

Do you think God of Jacob means here God of the 
people of Jacob, as God of Israel means God of the 
children of Israel ? 



84 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Explain the attitude which is represented by 'Behold, 
God.' 

Why is God called ' our shield ' ? See Psalm iii : 8. 
. Who is meant by 4 thine anointed ' ? See I. Samuel 
xvi : 12, 13. 

Explain 'look upon the face of thine anointed.' 

Look down, Lord, on my humble face which looks up im- 
ploring unto thee. 

4 A day in thy courts is better than a thousand ' : a thousand 
what f 

What kind of position was that of doorkeeper in the 
Tabernacle ? 

Who once was doorkeeper there ? See I. Samuel 
iii : 15. 

What position did he hold who said this ? 
What is meant by 4 tents of wickedness' ? Answer. 
The tents of rich and powerful men who were wicked. 

There were no tents of rich and powerful men to which King 
David might not go and where they would not have been glad 
to have the king dwell. 4 The idea, perhaps, is that he would 
rather stand at the door of God's house and look in (which 
was all that the worshippers in the Tabernacle could do) than 
dwell in the interior of tents or houses where wickedness pre- 
vailed. ' 

How is God 'a sun' ? 

4 A pious heart, under the influence of God, receives from 
him what the sun gives to the body — light, warmth, and joy.' 

How is God 'a shield' ? Read Psalm v : 12. 

How was he a shield to David when Goliath fought 
with him ? 

What is ' grace ' ? what is l glory ' ? 

How does God give them to men ? 

Does the last part of the verse mean that he always 
gives good things to those who walk uprightly ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 85 

How, then, do you explain the fact that the good do 
have much to suffer ? 

Explain 'them that walk uprightly.' 

4 

1 The Lord is all brightness and no gloom and all safety. He 
gives honor and glory. He leaves not one unsatisfied wish.' 

Ho you think that David said the last * Lord of hosts ' 
with the same feeling with which he said '0 Lord of hosts' in 
the first verse ? 

Show the difference between the last part of this 
verse and the first part of the fifth verse. 

Is it possible for a person to trust in God who is not 
sorry for his sins ? 

Is it possible for a person not to be content and happy 
who is really trusting in God ? 

Not one in that kingdom but ever sings, ' Blessed is the man 
that trusteth in thee.' 

If you will now look over the psalm, you will see that it is a 
very beautiful one for the Hebrew people to sing, as they went 
up from the country to Jerusalem to their celebrations or 
feasts of worship. And it might, when sung on the way, be 
called l The Pilgrim's Song on his way to the Holy City.' 

See the company as they start out on their camels and mules ; 
see them as their train winds over the hill toward Jerusalem, 
singing, c How amiable are thy Tabernacles, Lord of hosts' : 
4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house.' Then comes the 
Selah, when they go on a long way in silence. And then hear 
them, ; Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee.' Hear 
them as they go through the valleys and up one hill after 
another singing, 'Passing through the valley of Baca, they 
make it a well,' and * They go from strength to strength. Hear 
them repeat all the changes of the chant until there is another 
long silence. Then, as they come near to Jerusalem, filled 
with glad thoughts of their God and their fathers' God, hear 
them, winding up the last height, sing, i Lord of hosts, blessed 
is the man that trusteth in thee,' 



86 THE SENIOR YEAR. * 

What are the two parts of this psalm ? 

Show how it might be sung as a pilgrim's song on the 
way up to the holy city. 

What is it that makes trusting in God 4 blessed ' ? 

If a child had gotten out of the habit of trusting in 
his father by disobeying him, how is he to get back into 
the blessed trust in him ? 

How, then, are we to learn the blessed trust in God ? 



Cfojeniir-firsf Smtimir, 



A PART OF SOLOMON'S PRAYER AT THE DEDICA- 
TION OF THE TEMPLE. 

I. KINGS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

22. And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of 
all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven ; 

23. And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in 
heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with 
thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart ; 

24. Who hast kept with thy servant David my father that thou prora- 
isedst him : thou spakest also with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with 
thine hand, as it is this day. 

25. Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David 
my father that thou promisedst him, saying, There shall not fail thee a 
man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel ; so that thy children take 
heed to their way, that they walk before me, as thou hast walked before 
me. 

26. And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, 
which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. 

27. But will God indeed dwell on the earth ? Behold, the heaven, and 
heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee ; how much less this house that I 
have builded. 

Kfng Solomon had been seven years building the Temple. 
And now that great and beautiful building was completed. 
There had been thousands of stone-cutters at work quarrying 



THE SE2*I0R YEAR. 87 

and squaring the stone for the foundation, and thousands more 
of wood-cutters at work in the forests of Lebanon, who cut and 
hewed cedar timber and fir timber for the building. And while 
the building was going up, through all the seven years, it was 
the great thing talked of throughout the land. It was most 
splendidly ornamented : covered with figures of trees and flow- 
ers and angels, enriched with beautiful precious stones ; the 
curtains were blue and purple and crimson ; the walls were 
covered with pure gold. And now, after the seven years' work 
was done, the king invited the nation to Jerusalem to dedicate 
the Temple to their God. The dedication was in October, at 
the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. That Feast lasted seven 
days, but Solomon made this dedication feast fourteen . days 
long. AVhat a magnificent sight it must have been ! All Je- 
rusalem crowded with people, the city filled with the little 
-green-branch houses, the beautiful Temple shining in the sun- 
light, the priests sacrificing, the multitude of singers praising, 
the trumpets and psalteries and harps sounding, and, in the 
midst of it all, that wisest and. most splendid king offering this 
pray er in dedication unto God. 

Where did Solomon stand when he offered this prayer ? 

On what did he stand ? Read II. Chronicles vi : 13. 

"What had they been doing at the altar ? I. Kings 
viii : 5. 

What did they place within the innermost part of the 
Temple ? I. Kings viii : 4, 6-9. 

How many priests went in with the ark and how 
were they clothed ? II. Chronicles v : 12. 
. What happened when the priests came out?* Read 
I. Kings viii : 10, 11 ; II. Chronicles v : 13 and 14. 

What two things did the king do before offering this 
prayer? See I. Kings viii : 12, 13, and 14. 

Were the congregation standing or sitting ? See the 
fourteenth verse. 

All around the Temple-Building was a large open space, the 
court of the Temple, with a floor probably of marble, and the 



88 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

crowds of people filled this court and the porches, while the 
king stood on his platform of brass near the altar and near the 
priests. 

Did King Solomon stand or kneel when he prayed ? See 
II. Chronicles vi : 12, 13, and verse 54 of this chapter. 

Why did he spread forth his hands toward heaven ? 
Answer. To show the greatness and majesty of that God 
whom he was addressing. 

Is there any account in the Scriptures of any person 
sitting in time of prayer? Read II. Samuel vii : 18 
and 27. 

This prayer of Solomon is too long to have the whole of it 
in this book, but any scholar who can would do well to learn 
the whole of it. 

What is the first thing which Solomon says about God in 
his prayer ? 

Think of all the multitude standing silent after the ark had 
been carried in and the glory of God had appeared, and the 
voice of Solomon now heard by all the vast congregation as he 
solemnly says, — Jehovah, — God — of — Israel, — there — is — no 
God — like — unto — thee. 

What thing, in the last part of the verse, does Solo- 
n mon speak of in respect to which there is no God like 
unto Jehovah ? 

What is it to i keep covenant ' and to ' keep mercy ' ? 
With whom does God keep covenant and mercy ? 
What is it to walk fief ore God with all the heart f 
With what one of his servants does Solomon say, in the 
twenty-fourth verse, that God had kept covenant and mercy ? 
What was it that God had promised to Solomon's fa- 
ther ? Read II. Samuel vii : 12-16. 

Notice that there were two parts of the promise to David 
first, that David should have his son to be king after his own 
death ; secondly, that his son should build a house for God to 
dwell in. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 89 

What had David himself wished to do ? Read 
II. Samuel vii : 1, 2 ; and I. Kings v : 2, 3. 

How had God fulfilled with his hand what he had 
spoken with his mouth ? 

* As it is this day/ or, we might say, as it is seen this day. 
The beautiful Temple before their eyes, the glory of the Lord 
within it, driving out the priests, were the proof that God had 
kept his promise. 

If God had kept his promise, why does Solomon, in the 
twenty -fifth verse, pray God to keep it ? 

First Sotbmon praises God because he had kept the promise, 
and then he prays because He had kept it, therefore he would 
continue to keep it. 

What is the meaning of ' There shall not fail thee a 
man to sit on the throne ' ? 

What does 'so that thy children take heed' mean? 
See how David understood it in chapter ii : 4. 

Did God promise that David's descendants should be 
kings on the throne unless they tried to obey him ? 
Is the thing prayed for in the twenty-sixth verse different 
from that prayed for in the twenty-fifth verse ? 

What does 'verified' mean? Answer. Made true. 

It is as if he had said : Keep thy promise and let thy word 
come true by fulfilling it. 

* How could the promise now be verified in respect to 
the house of God ? 
What reason is there in the twenty -seventh verse why God 
could not dwell in the Temple ? 

But does not God dwell in the earth and in earthly 
houses consecrated to him ? Read Exodus xxv : 8 ; 
xxix : 45 ; Numbers xxxv : 34. 

What promise had God given to Solomon in respect 
to dwelling in the house which he was building ? 
I. Kino-s vi : 11-14. 



90 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

When Solomon lifted up his thoughts to Jehovah in prayer, 
and began to think who it was whom he was addressing, he 
was fihed with sublime conceptions of God's greatness. and 
condescension : This great God whom the wide heavens cannot 
contain promises to dwell in this little house ! How the splen- 
dor of the beautiful and great Temple fades away before the 
greatness and splendor of that Being who condescends to dwell 
in it. 



KING SOLOMON'S PRAYElf 
I. KINGS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

28. Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his 
supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer 
which thy servant prayeth before thee to-day : 

29. That thine eyes may be opened toward this house night and day, 
even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there : 
that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make 
toward this place. 

30. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy 
people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place : and hear thou in 
heaven thy dwelling-place : and when thou nearest, forgive. 

31. If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon 
him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this 

house : 

32. Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, con- 
demning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head ; and justifying the 
righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 

33. When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because 
they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again to thee, and confess 
thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto thee in this house : 

34. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, 
and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers. 

What two things has Solomon already prayed for? Answer. 
That God would keep a son of ©avid on the throne, and that 
he would make the house huilt, his own house. 



THE SENIOR YEAR: 91 

What is it that made God's condescension seem great 
in having a house built for him ? 
Why does he say, 'Yet have thou respect' ? Answer. Al- 
though the heavens are not great enough to contain thee, yet 
do thou hear my prayer to come and dwell in this house. 

What is the difference between ' a prayer ' and ' a 
supplication ' ? 

What is the difference between 'have respect unto 
the prayer ' and c hearken unto the cry ' ? 
What is it he wishes when he wishes ' that thine eyes may 
be opened toward this house' ? 

Solomon prays that God would * hearken unto the cry ' ; 
that is, that his ear would be open to any one praying in that 
temple ; and that his ' eyes may be open,' that is, that he 
would look with favor upon that house, and those who wor- 
ship there. 

Of what place had God ever said, ' My name shall be 
there ' ? Read Deuteronomy xii : 10, 11. 
What does 'toward the place' mean? 
Whose prayer besides his own does he ask in the thirtieth 
verse God to hear ? 

What is God's own proper dwelling-place ? 

God is everywhere present through all the universe and 
through all eternity ; and yet he teaches us in the Scriptures 
that there is some place called heaven from which he sends 
forth his commands, and at which he hears the prayers of his 
creatures. God has a throne, and Jesus is our interceding 
high-priest before that throne. 

What does Solomon wish him to do when he hears ? 
Are all prayers prayers for forgiveness ? 
Read now the next two verses, and tell for whom it is that 
Solomon prays next. 

What is it ' to trespass against a neighbor ' ? Read 
Exodus xxii : 9. 

What ' oath was laid upon him ' ? 



92 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

If a man complained that his neighbor had injured him, and 
his neighbor denied it, then he could bring the neighbor to the 
Temple, and have him take a solemn oath before God that he 
had not done him injury. Read Exodus xxii : 10, 11. If he 
took the solemn oath that he had not injured him, then the 
man who complained was to be satisfied, and let him go free. 

Explain now the last part of the verse. 
If such an oath was taken at the temple altar, what did 
Solomon pray God to do ? 

What does 'hear thou' i and do' mean? 

It is as if he said, When thou hearest, then act y or then do 
thou proceed to act thy part as the One who is to decide be- 
tween them. Do not care for this- house which we dedicate, 
just as thou carest for all places ; but when they come to this 
altar hear. And when thou hearest, do not be indifferent and 
do not delay, but decide at once the right and the wrong of it 
oecause they have come before thee in thine own house. 

Does ' judge thy servants' mean pronounce a decision 
with a voice there in the temple, or judge in thine own 
mind between them ? 

Does ' thy servants ' mean the two men who come or 
all who come there ? 

Does 'condemning the wicked' and 'justifying the 
righteous ' mean condemning the one of the two who is 
wicked, and justifying the one of them who is right, or 
condemning all who are wicked and justifying all who 
are righteous ? 

How does he 'bring his way upon his head ' ? 

How does he 'give him according to his righteous- 
ness ' ? 

Does Solomon mean to pray that God would punish 
and reward them at once while they are before the 

altar ? 
For whom does Solomon pray in the next two verses ? 

Does ' smitten down before the enemy ' mean when 



THE SEXIOll YEAR. 93 

they have gone beyond their land to fight, or when the 
enemy have come into their land ? , 

What reason is given why they might be smitten 
before the enemy ? 

Had God ever punished the people by bringing ene- 
mies into their land ? Read Judges ii : 11 and 14 ; 
iii : 7, 8, and 12-14. 

What four things would they do when God would 
hear them according to Solomon's prayer ? 

How is i confess thy name ' different from confessing 
sin? 
What two things did he pray God to do when he heard ? 

Does the last part of the verse mean that they should 
be brought back into a land from which they were car- 
ried out, or that the land should be restored which 
would be taken away ? 

Had the nation ever been restored after repenting ? 
Read Judges iii : 9-15 ; x : 10-12 ; I. Samuel xii : 10. 



KING SOLOMON'S PRAYER. 
I. KIXGS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

35. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have 
sinned against thee ; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, 
and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them : 

36. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of 
thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should 
walk, and give rain upon thy land which thou hast given to thy people for 
an inheritance. 

37. If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mil- 
dew, locust, or if there be caterpillar ; if their enemy besiege them in the 
laud of their cities ; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be ; 

38. What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by 
all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own 
heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house : 



94 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

39. Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, 
and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest ; 
(for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men ;) 

40. That they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which 
thou gavest unto our fathers. 

What is the third thing in his prayer, in the next two verses, 
for which Solomon prays ? 

Did God ever make any special promise of rain as a 
blessing ? Read Leviticus xxvi : 3-5 ; Deuteronomy 
xi : 13-15 ; xxviii : 12. 

Did he ever threaten to withhold the rain as a curse ? 
Read Deuteronomy xxviii : 23, 24 ; Zechariah xiv : 17. 
Why was the absence of rain worse in that country 
than in ours ? 

Think what a terrible thing it was in that country to have 
no rain. The hot winds from the southern and western de- 
serts came sweeping up over the land, scorching and withering 
every green thing, and sweeping the dust and fine sand over 
fields and houses and men. 

L And turn from their sin, when thou afflict est them ' : 
what, then, is affliction sometimes designed for ? 
Is it always designed to turn us from sin ? 
What three things does Solomon pray to be given when God 
hears them pray for rain ? 

Notice that they have sinned and the rain is withheld : now 
Solomon does not simply pray that their sin may be forgiven 
and rain be sent, but that they may be taught so that they 
will not sin again. 

What is meant by ' the good way wherein they should 
walk' ? Read I. Samuel xii : 23. 
What is an ' inheritance ' ? 
From whom did the people inherit that land ? 

See how Solomon appeals to God to take care of the land 
which he had taken pains to give to this people. He does not 



THE SENIOR YE^lR. 9o 

s?ay : And give them rain ; but ' give rain unto thy land which 
thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.' 

'Forgive/ ' teach,' 'give rain,' and each supplication Solo- 
mon makes as a personal appeal to God's love : Forgive thy peo- 
pie; teach them thy good way ; give rain to thy land, thine 
own gift to thy peopAe. 

Which one is the strongest of these three appeals ? 
What is the fourth thing in his prayer — in the next four 
verses — for which the king prays ? 

Explain the difference between ' famine,' ' pestilence,' 
'blasting,' 'mildew,' 'locust,' and 'caterpillar.' 

'Blasting' is the destruction of the tender bud or blossom 
of a plant by too much moisture, too much heat, or too much 
cold. A sharp, cold wind, a strong, hot wind, frost, or rain 
blast the tender blossom so that no fruit grows. A single hot 
wind on the opened buds in the East might blast thousands 
and millions of plants in the fields of grain and orchards and 
vineyards. See how the wind blasted the grain in Genesis 
xli : 6. ' Mildew ' is a thin white coating of decay which covers 
leaves and plants when they have been wet too long. How 
easy it is for Him to send a little too much cold or heat or rain 
or dew or cloud or fog ! 

How do the locust and caterpillar destroy differently 
from blasting and mildew ? 

'With the burning south winds there come from the interior 
of Arabia and from the most southern parts of Persia clouds of 
locusts. We saw them twice : the whole atmosphere filled on 
all sides and to a great height by an innumerable quantity of 
these insects, whose flight was slow and uniform, and whose 
noise resembled that of rain. The sky was darkened and the 
light of the sun considerably weakened. In a moment the 
terraces of the houses, the streets, and all the fields were covered 
by these insects, and in two days they had nearly devoured 
the leaves of the plants.' You may see how they devour and 
how they darken the sun in Exodus x : 14, 15. 



9G THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Were these things ever threatened against those who 
displeased God ? See Deuteronomy xxviii : 21, 22. 
Does ' the land of their cities ' mean simply cities ? 
Does 'whatsoever plague' refer back to the famine, 
pestilence, blasting, etc., or is it something still differ- 
ent? 
In what other way can you express ' what prayer and sup- 
plication soever' ? 

Does 'which' refer to 'prayer and supplication,' or 
to 'man' or to 'people of Israel' ? 

What does '-plague of his own heart ' mean ? 
Show the significance of 'spread forth his hands to- 
ward this house.' 
What three things -does Solomon ask God to do when he 
hears ? . 

Show the force of ' and do.' 

The meaning of the middle part of the verse will be clearer 
if you read it in this way: 'and give to every man, whose 
heart thou knowest, according to his ways.' 

Prove from other passages of Scripture that God 
knows the hearts of all. See I. Chronicles xxviii : ; 
Psalm cxxxix : 1-4 ; Jeremiah xvii : 10 ; Acts i : 24. 
What reason does Solomon urge — in the fortieth verse — 
why God should 'forgive and do and give' ? 

What is it which will lead to the fear, forgiveness, or 
the giving to every man according to his ways ? Read 
Psalm cxxx : 4. 

How does forgiveness lead to a loving fear of God ? 

How would living in the land which God gave unto 
their fathers lead them to fear God ? 

Any land or place or house in which God had done his won- 
derful works by his miracles, as at Sinai and in Judea ; by his 
providence, as in our own country ; by his Spirit, as in our 
church buildings, is full of powerful associations to help us fear 
him. And if for many years it has been so, so that we can 
say, Here God did his wonderful deeds among our fathers, the 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 97 

land or city or village or house will have great power over us 
to help us fear God. 

Turn now to your Bible and tell what is the next thing — the 

fifth thing — for which Solomon prays in the next three verses. 

Does he ask the same things for strangers as for his 

own people or not ? 

What is the sixth thing which he prays for in the last part 

of the prayer — from the forty-fourth verse onward ? 

What reason does ho urge again why the people 
should be forgiven ? Head verses 51, 52, 53. 
What did King Solomon do after he had finished his prayer ? 
What did he and the people do after that ? Verses 62, 63. 
How long a time did they continue to celebrate ? Yerse 65. 
How did the people go away ? Yerse 66. 

There is no such gladness of heart and no such fulness of 
joy on earth as in the great times of rejoicing, in great assem- 
blies of pious and cheerful people. The heart is borne up as 
if by a great ocean of sublime and happy thoughts and feeling. 
And this is the gladness of true piety ; the same kind of plea- 
sure which will be in heaven, when all who are there will go 
to do God's errands - joyful and glad of heart.' 



GOD'S ADDRESS OUT OF THE WHIRLWIND. 

JOB. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 

2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge ? 

3. Gird up now thy loins like a man ; for I will demand of thee, and an- 
swer thou me. 

4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? declare, 
if thou hast understanding. 

5. Who hath laid the measures thereof if thou knowest ? or who hath 
stretched the line upou it ? 



98 THE SENIOIi YEAR. 

6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the 
corner-stone thereof ; 

7. When the morning-stars sang together, and all the sons of God shout- 
ed for joy 1 

8. Or ivho shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth as if it had 
issued out of the womb ? 

9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a 
swaddling-band for it, 

10. And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 

11. And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further ; and here shall 
thy proud waves be staid ? 

Who was Job ? Read Job i : 1. 
Where did he live ? 

The land of Uz was probably somewhere in Arabia, and Job 
probably lived before Moses, or near Moses's time. Though 
Job says many things in this book of Job, yet he never says 
any thing about the escape of the Israelites from Egypt, or 
about Sinai and the Law, or about the Promised Land, st) that 
we think he knew nothing about Moses or the things written 
in Exodus. He was probably not a Hebrew, but an Arabian. 

What troubles had come on Job ? Find out from the 
first and second chapters. 

Who came to comfort him ? Read chapter ii : 11-13. 

When Job's friends came to comfort him, they fell into a 
long discussion— given in the chapters of Job — on the question, 
How a good and just God can afflict a just and righteous man ? 
Job was in great distress, and he could not see why God should 
let him live in such suffering. His friends answer him and he 
answers them back through a long debate about God's justice 
and man's misery. And after they have all finished, without 
deciding the question, God himself speaks to Job. 

What question did Job and his friends discuss ? 
Did they decide the question ? 
4 Then the Lord answered Job ' : when f 

Is there any other. account of God's speaking out of 
the whirlwind or in any similar way in the Scriptures ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 99 

Read I. Kings xix : 11-13 ; Exodus xix : 16-19 ; Matthew 
iii : 16, 17; xvii : 5 
What is meant by 'darkeneth counsel,' in the second verse? 
Anstcer. Trying to throw light on the subject, but really mak- 
ing it darker. 

What are ' words without knowledge ' ? Answer. 
Ignorant words or mere words without any ideas in 
them. 

Think of Job ! What a wise man he was thought to be ! 
How he had kept up the discussion with great wisdom in the 
eyes of men ! Think, now, of God's saying to him, 4 Who is 
this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?' 
As if he had said in majestic tones : What ignorant talker is 
this, who confuses the mind and does not know what he says ? 

What is the figure used in the words c Gird up now thy 
loins like a man ' f 

It means put on your greatest strength of mind. The robe 
was usually worn loose and flowing, but was girt up by a gir- 
dle when men ran or fought or wished to use their greatest 
strength. 

* For I will demand of thee,' etc. : who before this had 
demanded knowledge and from whom ? Read Job 
xiii : 3 ; xxiii : 3-5. 

It is as if God had said : Since you think you can know the 
whole reasons for my government of mankind, I will ask you 
questions about smaller things of the earth itself — for the rest 
of the chapter is full of questions. 

What is the first question which God asks Job ? 

Notice that all the questions from the fourth to the seventh 
verse are about the Creation. It is as if he said : If you pre- 
sume to understand why suffering and evil are in the world 
which I have created, tell me what you know about the crea- 
tion of the world. 

When he says ' declare, if thou hast understanding,' 



100 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

do you think he means to confound Job or to make him 
humble ? 

Are there any ' foundations of the earth ' ? 
What is the meaning of ' laid the measures ' ? Answer. 
Measured and fixed its proportions as an architect does his 
building. 

Explain i stretched the line upon it.' 
How does the first question of the sixth verse differ from 
that of the fourth verse ? 

The question might be read, ' On what are the earth's founda- 
tions settled. 1 

Did the people in Job's time know that the earth was 
round ? 

"Why does this scripture — the very words of God 
himself — speak of the foundations of the earth, as if the 
earth was a plain built up from beneath ? 

When God speaks to men, he speaks so that they will un- 
derstand him with their present knowledge. The Bible speaks 
of the sun rising and setting, although the sun does not rise 
nor set, but the earth turns over. The Bible speaks of the 
stars in the firmament, as if they were lights fixed in a solid 
vault, although there is no vault there. And as men in those 
days believed the earth was flat and built up on deep founda- 
tions, God spoke so that they could understand him when he 
said to tJiem, On what are the foundations settled? It was the 
same as if he should now say to us, On what are the earth's 
foundation rocks inside the earth laid ? Tell, if thou knowest. 

What important difference is there between a * corner- 
stone ' and L foundations ' ? 
Does 'when the morning-stars sang together' mean the 
singing of angels, or the voice of the stars declaring God's 
glory as the heavens declare the glory of God ?• 
Who are meant by c sons of God ' ? 
Why did they ' shout for j.oy ' ? 

What sublime beauty there is in this description of creation 4 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 101 

The earth is just made and all the worlds which we now see ; 
for in Genesis it says God made ' two great lights ' and ' made 
the stars also.' Out of the night of chaos they have all just 
come ; the light of the first morning dawns on them ; all these 
morning-stars lift up their voice, declaring God's glory and 
praising his handiwork ; and all the angelic races who look 
on shout for joy at the sight. 

God, out of the whirlwind, has spoken of Creation as a 
thing which man cannot understand. In the next four verses 
he speaks of the Sea, when it was first made, as a profound 
mystery which man cannot comprehend. 

How was 'the sea shut up with doors'? Answer. When 
it was first created, God made the rocks and the shores as 
walls and doors to shut it into its place. 

How was it that the sea ' brake forth ' at first ? Read 
Genesis i : 9, 10. 

When God said, ' Let the waters be gathered together unto 
one place, and let the dry land appear,' we can imagine that 
he lifted up parts of the earth in rocks and mountains and 
hills and high lands, and the seas ' brake forth ' from the earth 
and mud, rushing into the great hollows. 

What verse of Scripture represents the sea as shut up 
in a house ? Psalm xxxiii : 7. 

God represents now these new waters gathered together for 
the first time, as a child born into the world. We speak of 
the earth and the sea now as old, but then they were young— 
very infants in the universe. 

What name did God give to the infant waters at 
first? See Genesis i : 10. 

What 'garment' did God put around the infant 
waters ? 

Vapors arose from the moist earth and from the waters. 
These mists lay upon and around the sea as a cloudy garment. 

1 And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it ' : was 



102 TUE SENIOR YEAR. 

the sea made before the light or not ? See Genesis 
i : 9, 10, and 14, 15. 

Darkness, thick darkness, inclosed the sea tightly in round 
the whole earth, as the bands of an infant's clothing inclose 
him. 

What is meant in the tenth verse by 'my decreed place' ? 
What does ' brake up for it ' mean ? 

4 There is a cradle for this infant. Valleys were sunk for it 
in the earth capacious enough to receive it, and there it is laid 
to sleep.' 

What are the ' bars and doors ' ? Read Jeremiah 
v : 22. 
Explain ' Hitherto shalt thou come.' 

Why are the waves called ' proud ' ? 

The dashing billows of the ocean, roaring against the shore, 
seem to defy all power, as if they had proudly set their will to 
cover the very land. 

4 See with what ease the great God manages the raging sea. 
Notwithstanding the violence of its tides and the strength of 
its billows, he manages it as a nurse does a child.' 

If man,, then, cannot understand how the earth was created 
and how the sea was born and is taken care of like a child, can 
he understand how and why a good God permits evil and suf- 
fering in the world ? 



Clxreniir-fifilj jjmrirag, 

JOB. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands 
of Orion? 

32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide 
Arcturus with his sons ? 

33. Knowcst thou the ordinances of heaven ? canst thou set the domi- 
nion thereof in the earth ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 103 

34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters 
may cover thee ? 

35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, 
Here we are ? 

36. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given 
understanding to the heart ? 

37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bot- 
tles of heaven, 

38. When the dust groweth into hardness, and the clods cleave fast 
together ? 

39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion ? or fill the appetite of the 
young lions, 

40. When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in 
wait ? 

. 41. Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry 
unto God, they wander for lack of meat. 

We have not room in this book for this whole sublime ad- 
dress ; but between the eleventh verse and the thirty-first God 
asks Job about Light and Death, and Rain and Snow, and if 
he understands how they are made and come. 

And now from the thirty-first to the thirty-eighth verse he 
asks him about the Heavens, their constellations, and their 
laws. He turns Job's thoughts upward to the mysterious and 
boundless firmament, so wide and deep, as if he would over- 
whelm him with a sense of how very little man can know. 

What is Ple-ia-des, (pronounced Plee'-yah-dees) ? Ansicer. 
The cluster of seven stars to be seen in the heavens. 

The Arabians called them 'The Heap of Stars ' or 'The 
Knot of Stars. 7 

What is O-ri-on ? Ansicer. The constellation of l the 
Giant' in the sky. 

The Orientals said that the giant was Nimrod, the mighty 
hunter, who was chained up to the sky for his wickedness.* 
What is meant by the ' sweet influences of Ple-ia-des' ? 

* Let the teacher be sure to take his class, if it is the proper season of the 
year, on Sabbath evening, out under the heavens, and point out the constella^ 
tiong. 



104 THE SENIOR YEAK. 

The Pleiades came above the horizon to the people in the 
East in the spring ; and all the sweet influences of grass and 
flowers after winter came then. The people spoke of the Ple- 
iades in the spring as if they brought these sweet influences, 
just as we speak of the south wind bringing the flowers and 
the birds in the spring-time. 

What does l Canst thou "bind the sweet influences/ 
etc., mean ? Answer. Canst thou hold the seven stars 
in their places, so that they appear in the spring ? 

What are the ' bands ' of Orion ? Answer. The three 
stars which form his belt in the sky, or the band by 
which he is fastened up to the sky. 

What is meant by " loose the bands of Orion ' ? An- 
swer. Untie the starry Giant, so that he may move to 
some other place in the sky. 

The ancients thought that the stars had something to do 
with hastening or hindering the plants and fruits. 

Orion rose above the horizon in the autumn and winter sea- 
son, and Pleiades in the spring.. If you think of this, the verse 
may be read : * Canst thou bind the fruits which the constella- 
tion of the Seven Stars openeth, or open the fruits which the 
constellation of the Giant shuts up V 

What is Maz '-zar-oth ? Answer, The twelve constellations 
which lie in the pathway of the sun — the Zodiac. 

How is Mazzaroth brought forth in his season ? An- 
sicer. The twelve constellations rise and set one after 
another, just as the sun does. Each has its own place ; 
and God brings forth each one of the twelve in its sea- 
son to its place in the sky. 
What are Arc-tu-rus and his sons? Answer. The Great 
Bear in the northern heavens, and the three stars in the tail. 

What is an ' ordinance' ? Answer. A law which has been 
published. 

What are c the ordinances of heaven ' ? 
Explain * dominion thereof.' 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 105 

How do the heavenly bodies rule the earth ? Head 
Genesis i : 14-18. 

Does ' Canst thou set the dominion, thereof in the 
earth ' mean, i Canst thou make these laws so as to rule 
over the earth/ or ' Canst thou take the laws of heaven 
and make them the laws of earth ? ' 
Explain ' Lift up thy voice to the clouds.' 

How small a being man is ! He cannot even make the 
clouds hear his voice and answer him. But God speaks a 
word, and abundance of rain falls. What a beautiful descrip- 
tion of the rain, i abundance of waters cover tJiee P The 
pouring shower, a mile long, a mile wide, half a mile high, 
cavers man with its abundant waters. 

Explain the figure of the lightnings saying unto thee, c Here 
we are !' 

What a magnificent image is this: You see a great king 
sitting; calling to him the thunder and lightning, sending them 
out to this and to that part of the sky, calling them again to 
come back, and the lightning, as if it were a swift-flying crea- 
ture', returns in an instant to say, 'Here I am !' Can man do 
that f 

What is meant by ' wisdom in the inward parts ' and ' un- 
derstanding in the heart ' ? 

The meaning is, Who was it that put intelligence in the 
spirit of man, and understanding to perceive at all the nature 
of these things ? The powers of reason and the wonderful 
performances of thought are more excellent than the stars of 
heaven, and shine brighter. 

What are ' the bottles of heaven' in the next verse ? An- 
sicer. The rain-filled clouds, which often look like the skin-bot- 
tles of the East. 

What is * stay the bottles of heaven ' ? 

Read the thirty-seventh verse in this way after reading the 
thirty-sixth verse: 'And yet who in wisdom can number the 
clouds, or stay the bottles of heaven ?' Think of the multi- 



106 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

tudes of the clouds in all their shapes and sizes. Think of 
the dark clouds swollen with rain and ready to burst, like a 
.bulging skin-bottle filled with water. 

Does the thirty-sixth verse mean when the dust is baked 
into hardness and the dry clods cling fast by the heat, or when 
the dust and the clods are packed hard by the falling rain ? 

In the last three verses of the chapter, God turns Job's 
mind to the curious Instincts of Animals. And if you will 
turn to the next chapter of Job, you will see that he goes on 
to speak of the curious habits of many animals, especially of 
the war-horse in his glory and strength. 

Head the first question of the thirty-ninth verse, with the 
emphasis on thou: i Wilt thou hunt the prey/br the lionV 

The lion could as soon provide man's food for man as the 
man could hunt the lion's prey for the lion. 

Explain ' fill the appetite.' 

Have young lions a hungrier appetite than old lions 
or not ? 

When young lions are growing fast, like children that are 
growing fast, they have an enormous appetite, so that it is hard 
to fill it. 

Who does the Scripture say gives the young lions 
their food ? Read Psalm civ : 21. 

What do young lions couch in their dens for ? Read 
Psalm x : 9, 10. 

What is a ' covert ' ? Answer. A hiding-place in the 
thicket. 

Explain 'abide in their covert to lie in wait.' 

'Who provideth for the raven.' The raven is a kind of 
crow, a greedy and selfish bird, that will even eat the flesh of 
dead animals which clean birds will not touch ; and men do 
not like to do any thing for it. 

How do the young ones cry unto God ? 

How do they wander for lack of meat ? Answer. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 107 

Either the old birds do not take good care of them, or 
their appetite is so strong that they go half starved. 

Prove that God hears the cry of the ravens. See 
Psalm cxlvii : 9 ; and Luke xii : 24. 
How, then, does God answer this question of Job, whether 
a good and just God can afflict a good and just man ? 

How much patience and goodness has been taught to the 
world by the suffering of Job ! And God saw that it would 
be so. Job could not understand it, for he did not know what 
were to be God's plans in the future. We do not know what 
God's plans are for the world or for the future. And when we 
are afflicted, we are to say that he who so wonderfully made 
creation, formed the sea, set up the stars in their constellations, 
gave man his mind and all the animals their curious instincts. 
He has good and wise reasons which I may not see for giving 
me my suffering. 



REVIEW LESSON FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE YEAR. 

What five psalms have we learned the past quarter ? 
The Forty-Second Psalm. 

Does this psalm represent one who is near the taber- 
nacle or away from it ? 

What is the figure used in the first part of the 
psalm to represent desire for worship ? 

What is the reason why the soul is cast down and 
disquieted ? 

What remedy is there for discouragement and de- 
spondency ? 

If we are kept from God's house by sickness or af- 
fliction, what can we still say ? 

What figure represents the depth of affliction ? 

How is God a rock in these waves and billows ? 



108 THE SEXIOR YEAR. 

What is meant by having God for 'the help of my 
countenance,' and ' the health of my countenance 7 \ 
The Forty-Sixth Psalm. 

What is God represented to be in this psalm ? 

When has it been thought that this psalm was first 
written and sung ? 

How is the psalm divided into three parts ? 

By what figures of commotion and trouble does the 
first part show God to be a refuge ? 

By what peaceful figure and what strong figure does 
the second part illustrate the strength and help of God ? 

How does a victory illustrate, in the third part, the 
strength and help of God ? 

Show by what three like verses the leading ideas of 
the psalm are repeated. 

The Fifty-First Psalm. 

Whose public confession is this psalm ? 

What three commandments had he broken ? 

What does he pray for in the first two verses ? 

What two reasons does he give in the next four 
verses why he should be forgiven ? 

How do the next three verses show that he ma}' be 
forgiven ? 

What else does he pray for besides that his poM sins 
may be forgiven — from the tenth to the twelfth verses ? 

What things does David say in the rest of the psalm 
that he expects to do after he is pardoned ? 

What is the one chief thing in David's thoughts 
throughout this psalm ? 

The Sixty-Seventh Psalm. 

When is the psalm supposed to have been sung ? 
What blessing is repeated as a prayer ? 
Explain l Saving health among all nations.' 
Why is the fact that God is a righteous judge and 
governor of nations a glad and happy thing ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 109 

Repeat the verse which speaks of the gathered 
crops ? 

What does i bless us ' mean ? 

Show how the psalm might have been sung in re- 
sponses ? 
The Eighty-Fourth Psalm. 

"What are the two parts of this psalm ? 

How are the tabernacles ''amiable'' f 

How had the sparrow and the swallow a house and 
nest at God's altar ? 

Explain passing i through the valley of Baca ; make 
it a well.' 

Explain 4 Go from strength to strength.' 

Explain 4 For a day spent in thy courts,' etc. 

How is God a c sun ' and a • shield ' ? 

When and how might this psalm have been sung ? 
Solomon's Prayer. 

Describe the occasion when this prayer was offered. 

What had been done before the prayer was offered ? 

What are the two parts of David's promise to which 
Solomon refers ? 

What shows God's condescension in dwelling in the 
temple ? 

Explain the part about a man trespassing against his 
neighbor. 

What does he pray for 'when the people are smitten 
before the enemy ' ? 

What three things does he pray for when heaven is 
"shut up ? 

What does he suppose may be in the land besides 
4 famine ' and l pestilence ' ? 

What reason does Solomon urge why God should 
then l forgive and do and give' ? 
God's Address out of the Whirlwind. 

What question had Job and his friends been discuss- 
ing? 



110 TFTE SENIOR YEAR. 

' Had God at any other time spoken out of the whirl- 
wind ? 

Explain 'Darkeneth counsel bywords without know- 
ledge.* 

"What was the first subject about which God asked 
Job questions ? 

What was the second subject about which he asked 
questions ? 

What two other subjects in the last part of the chap- 
ter ? 

Did God mean to show Job his ignorance or to make 
him feel his presumption in trying to reason about these 
things, or to show him that it is impossible to under- 
stand the question he had been discussing ? 
What, then, are you to say in answer to the question, How 
a good God permits suffering and evil in the world ? 



THE NINETIETH PSALM. 

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 

1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in ail generations. 

2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed 
the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art 
God. 

& Thou turnest man to destruction ; and say est, Return, ye children 
of men. 

4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is 
past, and as a watch in the night. 

5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood ; they are as a sleep : in the 
morning they are like grass ivhich groweth up. 

6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up ; in the evening it is 
cut down, and withereth. 

7. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we 
troubled, 

8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light 
of thy countenance. 



THE SENIOIt YEAR. Ill 

• 9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath : we spend our years 
as a tale that is told. 

Some persons have thought that Moses did not write this 
psalm, because the psalm says in the tenth verse that life is 
only seventy years long, and Moses lived one hundred and 
twenty years. But, if the people at that time lived only sev- 
enty or eighty years, a lifetime only seventy years long would 
be all the more impressive to Moses from his living one hun- 
dred and twenty years. 

It is supposed, too, that the length of life was shortened 
during the stay in the wilderness, and that this is the reason 
why Moses speaks of the shortness of life in this psalm. 

It is the oldest psalm in the book of Psalms. Besides the 
title, other reasons why it is thought Moses wrote it are, that 
it is different from all other psalms, that it is full of grand 
thoughts like the grand events of Moses's life, and like the 
grand thoughts of the songs of Moses in Exodus and Deutero- 
nomy, and that no other man that ever lived, that we know of, 
is so well suited to be the author ; and that it cannot be 
proved that any other man was the author. 

"What reason is there why some persons think that Moses 
did not write this psalm ? 

What reasons, besides the title, are there for thinking 
that Moses did write it ? 

Repeat the first verse. 

When the word Lord in our Bible is printed in capital let- 
ters as it is here, Lord, it is in the Hebrew the word Jehov~j£ 
The verse, then, is the same as if it were written, ' Jehovah, 
thou hast been our dwelling-place ' ; and as Jehovah is God's 
name for his Eternal Existence, it is sublimely suited to this 
psalm, which describes his eternal being. 

Why is the name Jehovah well suited to this psalm ? 

How is God ' our dwelling-place ' ? 

Who are meant by 4 our ' ? 

Explain ' our dwelling-place in all generations? 



112 TPIE SENIOR YEAR, 

A dwelling-place, or a dwelling, is a place in which we live 
in peace and comfort, and are protected from cold and storm 
and attack. God is the person who gives peace and comfort, 
and who protects his people from all harm. A house, after a 
few years, decays and falls to pieces. Yery few houses last 
more than two or three generations. But God is comfort, 
peace, and protection through all generations. 

How does Moses show in the second verse the changeless- 
ness of God ? 

Mountains, as they stand lifting their high summits into the 
sky, represent the things that last longest on earth. 

When were the * mountains ' c brought forth ' ? 

Before these great monsters of land first raised their heads 
out of the seas by which they were covered, Jehovah lived. 
Moses was thinking, no doubt, of the creation of the world 
when he wrote this verse. 

What was Moses thinking of when he wrote * ever 
thou hadst formed the earth and the world ' ? 

Can you explain the meaning of i from everlasting to 
everlasting ' ? 

Read it w T ith the emphasis on the words from and to. 
From everlasting duration in the past to everlasting duration 
in the future, thou art God. 

What is meant by l turnest man to destruction ' ? 

^lan was made of dust, and turns back to dust again. . As 
long as he is strong and well, he goes on in life ; but when 
sickness or old age comes on him, God turns him back toward 
dust again. Read Genesis iii : 19, and Psalm civ : 29. 

How does God say, and when does he say, ' Return, 
ye children of men ' ? 
How does Moses show God's everlasting life in the fourth 
verse ? 

'A thousand years are but as yesterday.' As a man in 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 113 

whose sight a thousand dollars are but as a penny must be 
wonderfully rich, so a God in whose sight a thousand years 
are but as a day must be wonderfully enduring. 

Which seems the longer, yesterday when it is past, 
or to-day when it is present ? 

What is meant by * a watch in the night' ? Answer. 
The hours when a watchman is watching in the night. 

In the land of Moses and of David the night was divided 
into three or four watches. In God's sight a thousand years 
is as quickly gone as a third or a fourth part of the night 
when you are sleeping. 

1 Thou earnest them away ' : # carriest ichat away ? 

The thousand years are carried away as if God's eternal 
being, like a rushing torrent or freshet of water, swept them 
away. The whole human family is driven away as when a 
sweeping flood of rain carries every thing before it. 

i They are as a sleep ' : what is meant by * they ' ? 
How are a thousand years like a sleep ? 

Sleep is one of the quickest things to the one who sleeps. 
A moment ago he went to sleep, and now he is awake, but 
hours are gone. So a thousand years to God pass by in an 
instant. Read II. Peter iii : 8. 

What three things are the thousand years likened to 
in this verse ? 

How does grass represent the shortness of life ? 

1 It is like the grass in the east, which, after a fruitful shower, 
grows up high, as if by a magic spell, but, when the scorching 
east wind passes over it, completely withers in two days, and 
is cut down and is used for fuel.' Read James i : 11. 

4 For we are consumed' : who is meant by 'we 1 ? 
What does ' consumed ' mean ? 
How does he mean that God's anger consumes us ? 

When we die so soon, cut down like the grass, it is becauso 



114 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

we are withered or consumed by the wrath of God, that is, by 
death, which is the punishment of God's wrath. 

Which is the more sad, the fact that life is so short, 
or the cause why it is so short ? 

Notice that in the seventh verse Moses gives the cause of the 
shortness of life, because God's wrath cuts it short ; and that 
in the eighth verse he gives the cause of God^s wrath, because 
he sees our sins. 

What is i set our iniquities before thee ' ? 

It is as if God took up our sins one by one and set all the 
multitude of them down before him. 

What is meant by c oi5r secret sins in the light of thy 
countenance ' ? Read I. Corinthians iv : 5. 

It is as if the very sins which we thought secret he took up 
and set them just before his face, where the light shining from 
his face showed all their horrid forms. And then God's face 
is angry, and he consumes us by death in a moment. 

How do all our days pass away in God's wrath or under 
God's wrath ? 

Perhaps Moses was thinking of that whole generation of 
people who were condemned to die in the wilderness. 

How are our years spent ' like a tale that is told ' ? 



THE NINETIETH PSALM. 

10. The clays of our years are threescore years and ten ; and if by rea- 
son of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and 
sorrow ; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 

11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger ? even according to thy fear, 
so is thy wrath. 

12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto 
wisdom. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. . 115 

13. Return, O Lord, bow long? and let it repent thee concerning thy 
servants. 

14. O satisfy us early with thy mercy ; that we may rejoice and be glad 
all our days. 

15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us 
and the years wherein we have seen evil. 

16. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their 
children. 

17. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us : and establish 
thou the work of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of our hands establish 
thou it. 

How are ' the days of our years ' only threescore and ten ? 
Does Moses say that they are never more than 
seventy ? 

If they go on to fourscore, what is the reason ? 
How is their strength labor and sorrow ? 

The days of our life, if you reckon them one by one, seem 
many, but yet all of them together are but about seventy 
years, or, if one has a very strong constitution, about eighty 
years ; and even then his strength only brings the care and 
trouble and sorrow and fears which belong to old age. 

'For it is soon cut off' : what is soon cut off? 

The whole generation of the people who came from Eg}^pt 
with Moses were condemned to die in the wilderness. And 
perhaps Moses had them in mind when he spoke of the short- 
ness of life. It is supposed that human life, which had been 
much longer before that time, was then shortened down to 
about seventy years. 

How old was Moses himself? Read Deuteronomy 
xxxiv : 7. 

How old did Joshua live to be ? Read Joshua 
xxiv : 29. 
4 Who knoweth the power of thine anger' : does this mean 
who ever knows how great and tefrible God's anger is, or who 
really feels the greatness of God's anger ? 

We must remember that death is the way in which God's 



116 THE SENIOK YEAR. 

anger is inflicted upon us, and Moses means who really feels 
the fact of death, or God's anger shown in death, as he ought 
to feel it. 

What words of the verse are not in the Hebrew ? 

If you leave out the words 'so is? and put a comma instead 
of an interrogation mark after * anger,' then the sentence will 
read, ' Who knoweth the power of thine anger, even according 
to thy fear, thy wrath ? ' that is, Who knoweth the power of 
thine anger, and who knoweth, according to a proper fear of 
thee, thy wrath ? 

What kind of fear is meant by l thy fear ' ? 
What is meant by i number our days ' ? 

What is it to ' apply our hearts unto wisdom ' ? 
Does ' Return, Lord ' mean Turn back to us, as if God had 
been absent, or, Turn back thy punishments from us, that is, 
Turn back the power of thy wrath to thyself ? 

JDoes 'How long' mean How long wilt thou be ab- 
sent, or, How long will thy wrath continue ? 

Whom did Moses mean by 4 thy servants ' ? 
1 And let it repent thee ' : does God ever repent ? 
Read Exodus xxxii : 12, 14, and Deuteronomy xxxii : 36. 

God is often spoken of in the Scriptures as if he were a man, 
as having a face and hands and feet and eyes, speaking, acting, 
waking, etc. But no one, of course, thinks for a moment that 
God, a spirit, has any body like a man's. When we say that 
God changes his face from a smile to a frown toward us, we 
mean that he passes through the same change of feeling as a 
man does when his face changes from a smile to a frown. And 
when we say that God repents, we mean that he acts as if he 
had thought differently of what he was going to do, and had 
become sorry that he had made a mistake. Of course God 
cannot mistake, for he knows every thing when he begins 
which he does when he ends. 

What is ' mercy ' ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 117 

Can we be satisfied with mercy when we know God's 
wrath is on us ? 

What is meant by ' satisfy us early ' ? 
If we have this mercy, how long will the joy and 
gladness continue ? 

Prove that God likes to give joy and gladness to his 
creatures. 

Is it right for them to go sad and mourning all their 
days ? 
Does the fifteenth verse mean make our gladness as high as 
our sorrow was deep, or, make our gladness as long in the fu- 
ture as our affliction was long in the past ? 

How Hoes * years wherein we have seen evil' differ 
from ' days wherein thou hast afflicted us' ? 
What two things, in verse sixteen, does he ask may appear ? 
To what two classes of persons does he wish them to 
appear ? 

Thy loorlc means thy doing : let us see in whatever is done 
to us in life that it is thy work, so that we shall be satisfied 
with it. 

Thy glory means the excellence or honorabieness or majesty 
of thy character and work, so that it lifts up the mind to great 
and high thoughts of thee. 

What is meant by i the leauty of God ' ? 

Beauty means at first what is fair in appearance, like a hand- 
some face or like a splendid flower. Then any graceful act, 
done with graceful gesture and pleasant manner, is beautiful. 
Then any person whose life is such that we admire him is 
beautiful to us. Then the whole character of a person who al- 
ways does what is good and noble is beautiful. The beauty of 
God is the admirable gracefulness of his whole noble and loving 
and pure life. 

How can this beauty be upon us f 

Explain l establish thou the works of our hands upon 
us.' 

Why is the sentence repeated ? 



US THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Read the last half of the verse in this way : * and establish 
thou the ioor~k of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of your 
hands establish Thou iV 

Now, tell me to what God's life is compared at the beginning 
of the psalm. 

What is the cause why man's life is cut short ? 
In what way is God's anger seen when it is cut off? 
How then can we be glad and jo}^ful all our life ? 
How can we have the beauty of God upon us f 



THE NINETY-FIRST PSALM. 

1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide 
under the shadow of the Almighty. 

2. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress : my God ; 
in him will I trust. 

3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from 
the noisome pestilence. 

4. lie shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou 
trust : his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 

5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ; nor for the arrow 
that flieth by day ; 

6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruc- 
tion that wasteth at noonday. 

7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; 
but it shall not come nigh thee. 

8. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the 
wicked. 

There is no title to this psalm ; and we do not know who 
wrote it. It has the same grand tone which the Ninetieth 
Psalm has, and it has the same grand subject of c God our 
Dwelling-place.' Perhaps it was written by Moses ; perhaps 
by some one who admired that psalm of Moses, and wrote 
this in imitation of it. 

Is the thought of the first verse of this psalm really differ- 
ent from the thought of the first verse of the last psalm ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 119 

What is the ' secret place of the Most High ' ? Read 
Psalms xxvii : 5, and xxxi : 20. 

Why is God called ' the Most High' ? 
Explain c under the shadow of the Almighty.' 

God is like a Most High Mountain. When under the shadow 
of it, you feel safe from storms ; no wind can "blow it over, and 
no tempest can beat it down. Whoever makes God his dwell- 
ing-place will find him like the shadow of a great rock in a 
weary land, giving cool shade and rest when all around the 
hot sun beats down on the scorching sand. 

Explain the difference between the four different names of 
God in the first two verses. 

Read the second verse, leaving out the italic words. 

Does C I will say' mean what the psalmist will say 
at some future time, or what he will continue to say 
always f 

What other names besides these does David call 
God ? Read Psalm xviii : 1, 2. 

Can any one who is not a child of God love to say, 
My God ; my refuge ; my fortress ? 

When will a person, instead of saying, 4 the Saviour/ 
and ' our Saviour,' begin to say, \ my Saviour' ? 

Does ' in him will I trust ' mean that he will trust in 
the Lord as a refuge from danger and a fortress against 
assault, or that he will trust in him, as God, a friend 
and helper ? 

A refuge is a place into which we may run from danger ; a 
fortress is a place from which you may fight off attacks. 
You can trust a good refuge to receive you when you run 
from danger ; you can trust a good fortress to protect you 
when assailed ; but God is more than such a refuge and for- 
tune — he is a friend whose love you can enjoy, and whose 
promise to make you better and happier you can trust. 

Can one who is guilty trust in God as a friend, with- 
out first trusting in him as a refuge and a fortress ? 



120 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

« 

How is God like the ancient city of refuge ? 
How will God deliver any one 'from the snare of the 
fowler' ? Read Psalm cxxiv : 6, 7. 

Who is meant by L the fowler ' ? 

What is meant by i snare of the fowler ' ? 

A snare or trap for birds is a cunning, strong box or net, or 
thing which the bird's enemy takes to get the bird ; and there- 
fore the snare of the fowler here represents the cunning and 
power of the soul's enemy. 

Who is the enemy who has the strongest and most 
cunning snare ? Read II. Timothy ii : 26. 
What is a * noisome pestilence ' ? 
Does c noisome pestilence ' represent an enemy of the 
soul, or not ? 
To what is God likened in the first part of the fourth verse ? 
Read Ruth ii : 12 ; Deuteronomy xxxii : 11, 12 ; and Matthew 
xxiii : 37. 

The simple safety and trust of the soul in God is beautifully 
likened to the little bird which runs under the wings of the 
mother-bird, and there, warm and safe with her protector over 
her, feels entirely free from harm. What could be more beau- 
tiful as an image of the soul trusting in God's tender and gen- 
tle care ! 

Does ' his truth ' mean the truthfulness of what God 
has said to us, or the doctrines of his word which, to- 
gether, are called his truth ? 

What is the difference between a 4 shield ' and a 
'buckler'? 

How is God's truth like a shield and buckler ? Read 
Ephesians vi : 14-16. 

Notice, now, that in the fifth and sixth verses three kinds 
of things are mentioned of which men are afraid — fear in the 
night ; what enemies do by day ; what sickness does by night 
and by day. He who fully trusts in God will have little fear 
of either of these things. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 121 

What is m3ant by ' terror by night' ? See Song of Solomon 
iii : 7, 8 ; Proverbs iii : 24. 

The reason why he makes mention of fear in the night-time 
is because darkness makes men fearful. If any thing do but 
creak, our imagination magnifies our fears. If we have a calm 
trust in God, we are not afraid of horrid imaginations, of mon- 
sters, or of spirits, nor of enemies or robbers. Read how God 
promises to protect his own in Isaiah xliii : 2. 

What is meant by c the arrow that flieth by day ' ? 

The arrow in those days was the chief weapon, as the pistol 
or gun is now. No enemy in the night-time, no enemy's wea- 
pon in the day-time, can harm the one that trusts in God. 

How does a pestilence ' walk in darkness ' ? 

A great and terrible disease, like the cholera or the plague, 
is always more terrible when it comes in the night. And 
when it is in the land, it seems as if it walked from street to 
street and from city to city in a single night. 

How is the destruction that wasteth at noonday dif- 
ferent from the pestilence that walketh in darkness ? 

Explain c a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand 
at thy right hand.' 

What does f it shall not come nigh thee ' mean ? 

Does this mean that, when such a pestilence as the 
cholera is in the land, thousands and ten thousands fall- 
ing, the cholera will not come nigh one who trusts in 
God? 

Can any such thing reach the real life of a trusting 
Christian ? 

Does such a thing reach the real life of one not a 
Christian ? 

Even if a good man should die, would the pestilence 
come nigli to him ? 
What shall he see with his eyes ? 

Does the verse mean that, when the good man sees 



122 THE SENIOR YEAE. 

one thousand and ten thousand falling, this fall is the 
reward of the wicked ? 

The good, whose souls are saved, behold and see the reward 
of the wicked. And the good, who live honest and upright, 
live to behold and see, in the course of years, the downfall of 
the dishonest and vicious. 



THE NINETY-FIRST PSALM. 

9. Because tliou hast made tlie Lord, which is my refuge, even the 
Most High, thy habitation; 

10. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
thy dwelling. 

11. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways. 

12. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 
against a stone. 

13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder : the young lion and the 
dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 

14. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him : 
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 

15. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him : I will be with him in 
trouble ; I will deliver him, and honor him. 

16. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation. 

The psalmist has already said that God is his refuge, and 
now he wishes to have others make him their refuge, too. 
When he says, \ Because thou hast made the Lord,' etc., it is 
as if he said, ' If thou wilt make the Lord, who is my refuge, 
thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee. 7 

What is there, in the first verse of the psalm, like 
habitation ? 
Verse ten says, * No evil shall befall thee 1 : does it mean 
that there never will be any harm to a Christian ? 
What does ■ befall ' mean ? 

What is a ' plague' ? Read Exodus xi : 1, and Num- 
bers xvi : 48, 49. 



THE SENIOR YEAK. 123 

Did the plagues of Egypt come nigh the dwellings of 
the children of Israel ? Read Exodus ix : 6, 25, 26 ; 
xii : 23 ; x : 22, 23. 
T7hat reason is given, in the eleventh verse, why the plague 
will not come nigh thy dwelling ? 

Do you know from any other part of Scripture that 
angels take care of men ? Read Genesis xix : 1 ; John 
v : 4 ; Acts x : 7 ; xii : 8-10. 

Does the verse say they will take care of the whole 
or a part of his life ? 

4 All thy ways : no single way of all is not watched over. 

How does verse twelve say that angels will keep them ? 

4 Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone' : does this 
mean something against which the body or the soul 
stumbles ? 

TTho once quoted these eleventh and twelfth verses to 
our Saviour ? Read Matthew iv : 6. 

For what purpose did he quote them ? 

See how tender God is in his speech to us. If the greatness 
of his majesty overawe us, he likens himself to a hen who 
takes her chickens under her wings. If we are alarmed by 
fears and foes by day and night, he shows how powerful he is 
to keep them from us. If we think of our loneliness in this 
world, he shows that, if we are his, a multitude of angels care 
for us. 

Notice, now, that stones and pestilence and plague have 
been the troubles before, to show the things opposed to the 
believer. But now lions, serpents, and dragons come out to 
meet him, showing the great and dreadful horrors by which 
Satan will try to scare him from his trust in God. 

How many kinds of beasts are mentioned in this thirteenth 
verse ? 

The lion is bold and open : the adder or asp is secret and 
hidden. So Satan has his open and secret terrors : his stout 
and roaring enemies against a soul, and his silent and unsus- 
pected temptations which bite and poison us. 



124 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Which is more to be feared, the lion or the young 
lion? 

Which is the worst of all four ? 

What shows the completeness of the victory over 
these foes promised in this verse ? 

Read how the Israelites overcame their enemies in Deute- 
ronomy viii : 15 ; how Samson overcame in Judges xiv : 5, 6 ; 
how David did in I. Samuel xvii : 34, 35 ; and how Daniel did 
in Daniel vi : 23. 

How did our Saviour promise the same thing to his 
disciples which this psalm promises ? Bead Luke x : 
19. 
Who is 'I,' in the fourteenth verse ? 

Do you think ' set his love upon me ' any stronger ex- 
pression than ' loves me ' ? 

Will God deliver any one who does not love him ? 
Will he deliver every one who does love him from 
every danger and trouble ? 

What is meant by ' set him on high f ? 
For what reason does the verse say that God will set 
him on high ? 

What is it to 'know his name' ? 
How will God treat his call ? 

Will he answer the call of all persons ? 
In what four ways does this verse say that God will 
show that he loves him ? 
In what other way does the sixteenth verse say that God 
will do him good ? 

Does every child of God have long life ? 
What does ' show him my salvation mean ' f 

To have God show us his salvation, that is, to take us and 
keep us as his own saved children, is to give us the best 
refuge of all. Then we abide under the shadow of the 
Almighty. 

W^hat is the general subject of this psalm ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 125 

In what respect is it like the Ninetieth Psalm ? 

To what is God likened in the first two verses ? 

From what six things does God promise to protect in 
the next four verses ? Protect whom ? 

Do the things, from the third to the thirteenth verse, 
represent spiritual enemies or not ? See Psalm lvii : 4. 

What is the reason why he will deliver him ? 

Does the psalm mean that God will give long life and 
salvation to any one who calls upon him ? 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD PSALM. 

A Psalm of David. 

1. Bless the Lord, O my soul : and all that is within me, bless his holy 
name. 

2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits : 

3. Who forgivetk all thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases ; 

4. Who redeenieth thy life from destruction ; who crowneth thee with 
loving-kindness and tender mercies ; 

5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things ; so that thy youth is re- 
newed like the eagle's. 

6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are op- 
pressed. 

7. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of 
Israel. 

8. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in 
mercy. 

9. He will not always chide ; neither will he keep his anger forever. 

10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according 
to our iniquities. 

Whose psalm is this ? 

David's tender heart is filled with thoughts of God's kind- 
ness to himself and to others, and he pours them out in this 
psalm in a flood of warm and thankful praise. 

Notice that he praises God for four kinds of things : First, 



126 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

in the first five verses, praise for what God had done for him- 
self ; secondly, in the next five verses, praise for what he does 
for his fellow-men ; thirdly, in the next eight verses, praise for 
the tenderness of his pity ; fourthly, in the last four verses, 
praise that God is King over the whole heavens and earth. 

Describe the four parts of the psalm. 
What is the meaning of the word ' bless ' ? 

To bless is to call blessings or good gifts upon a person. 
"When we bless men, we wish that good things may come upon 
them. When we bless God, we wish that all good things may 
be his. But since they are already his, we say that we are 
glad that all good things are his ; or we say that he is so goo.d 
that he deserves to have all good things ; or we wish all men 
to know that God is so good and full of blessing. So that 
when we say, 4 Bless the Lord, my soul,' we mean, Praise, 
xny soul, the praiseworthy goodness of God. 

In the first part of the psalm, how many things does 
David bless God for ? 

4 And all that is within me' : what is there 'within 
me ' besides 4 my soul,' with which I am commanded to 
love God ? See Deuteronomy vi : 6. 

What is meant by 4 bless his holy name ' ? 

When your heart is overwhelmed by kind and loving deeds, 
you find your thoughts rising up to call blessings and honor 
on the name of the person who does the deeds. 

What makes his name a holy name ? 

See how David fondly calls over the name and the blessing 
again in the second verse, as he does several more times in the 
last part of the psalm. 

What are * benefits ' ? 

Name some of the benefits which God gave to the 
children of Israel. Read Psalms cvi : 9-11 ; cv : 43, 44. 

Do you think these are the kind of ' benefits' which 
David means ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 127 

What is the first of the benefits mentioned in the third 
verse ? 

Whose iniquities are ' thine iniquities ' ? 

Is it possible for a person to know that he is forgiven 
without praising God for it ? 

Does ' thy diseases ' mean diseases of the body or of 
the soul ? 

David does not begin, like others, by numbering temporal 
blessings, such as health, home, friends, and the like, but first 
of all he thanks God for the forgiveness of Ms sins. 

4 Redeemeth thy life ' : is thy life the life of the body or of 
the soul ? 

What is the end of the diseases of the soul ? 

4 From destruction ' : can the soul be destroyed ? Read 
Matthew x : 28. 

What is the difference between loving-kindness and 
tender mercy ? 

Does i croic?ieth thee' mean that the soul is crowned 
with loving-kindness and tender mercies, as the head is 
crowned with a garland, or that loving-kindness and 
tender mercies are a crown to iniquities forgiven, dis- 
eases healed, and life redeemed ? 

A crown is both an ornament and an honor ; and God, by 
loving-kindness and tender mercies, adorns and honors us. And 
as he who gives a crown is more honored than he who takes it, 
so God is most honored when he crowns our souls with loving- 
kindness and tender mercies. 

Does i thy mouth/ in the fifth verse, mean the mouth of the 
body or of the soul ? Read Psalm cvii : 9, and Isaiah lviii : 11. 
What is the meaning of Uhy youth is renewed' ? 

It is as if the verse reads, * So completely does his bounty 
feed the soul, that even in old age thou growest young again 
and soar est like an eagle.' 

4 Thy youth is renewed like an eagle's ' : is the eagle's 
youth ever renewed ? 



128 THE SENIOK YEAR. 

There is an old fable that the eagle in his old age mounts up 
to the sun and then plunges into the ocean and becomes young 
again, but we do not suppose that David alluded to this. We 
say of an old man who is still strong and active, that he has 
renewed his youth. The eagle is a l'ong-lived bird, which 
keeps its strength to the last. So the soul, which is kept by 
God, keeps its life and strength. 

' When eagles are nearly a hundred years old, they cast their 
feathers and become bald like young ones, and then new fea- 
thers sprout forth.' 

What is the second part of the psalm about ? 

What does the Lord do for the oppressed ? 
What is the difference between ' righteousness' and 
'judgment ' ? 
What is it to ' execute righteousness and judgment ' ? 

How noble is this saying in the mouth of- King David, who 
thinks God a greater king than himself, and that the poor are 
more sure of God's protection than of the protection of any 
earthly monarch. 

Many of the oppressed are under tyranny or slavery 
all their days : how, then, does God execute righteous- 
ness and judgment for all the oppressed ? 
Explain how the Lord made known his ways unto Moses. 

What acts did he show unto the children of Israel ? 
Do you think David had in mind, when he > wrote the eighth 
verse, what God said to Moses on the mount — in Exodus 
xxxiv : 6 ? 

Show the difference between 'merciful' and 'gra- 
cious.' 

Show the difference between 'slow to anger' and 
' plenteous in mercy.' 

David says, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth verses, ' Not 
only is God good to me, but to all his people in distress : not 
only did he prove this to Moses and to Israel by saving them 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 129 

from Pharaoh and the other nations, but by bearing with their 
own offences. 7 

Does ' chide ' mean chide his children or chide his enemies ? 
Does 'keep his anger' mean keep angry or keepjOwft 
being angry ? 
How do you explain 4 dealt with us after our sins T ? 

How would it be if he should deal with us after our 
sins ? 

What is the reward of iniquities ? Read Romans 
vi : 23 ; Matthew xxv : 41-46. 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRD PSALM. 

11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy to- 
ward them tli at fear him. 

12. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our trans- 
gressions from us. 

13. Like as a father pitieth 7iis children, so the Lord pitieth them that 
fear him. 

14. For he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth that we are dust. 

15. As for man, his days are as grass ; as a flower of the field, so he 
flourisketh. 

16. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone ; and the place thereof 
shall know it no more. 

17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon 
them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children ; 

18. To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his com- 
mandments to do them. 

19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens ; and his king- 
dom ruleth over all. 

20. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his com- 
mandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. 

21. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts ; ye ministers of his, that do his 
pleasure. 

22. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion : bless 
the Lord, O my soul. 



130 THE SEXIOPv YEAR. 

TV hat is the third part of the psalm about ? 

"What is David's description of God's mercy to us in 
the eleventh verse ? 

We cannot think of a greater height in this world than the 
height from heaven to earth, and so God's mercy is the very 
greatest that we can possibly think of. Read Isaiah lv : 7-0. 

4 Toward ' whom is such mercy as this shown ? 
How does David describe the removal of transgressions ? 

How does this verse show that our sins shall be en- 
tirely removed from us if God forgives us ? 

1 The psalmist uses the longest measure which the world can 
afford — the distance of the east from the west — to express a 
thing which can scarcely be expressed in any other way.'- 
Read Psalm xxxvi : 5. 

Hath he removed your transgressions from you as far 
as the east is from the west ? 
What is it that David describes in verse thirteen ? 

See what three beautiful descriptions of God ! When we 
lift up our eyes and behold the lofty and stupendous vault of 
heaven, encircling, protecting, enlightening, and cherishing the 
earth, we can see, as in a glass, the immeasurable height, the 
boundless extent, the healthful influence of God's mercy, which 
embraces all his creatures. So often as we see the sun arising 
in the east and darkness fleeing away from him to the west, we 
may see an image of that goodness of God which is ready to 
remove our sins out of his sight. And that our hearts may at 
all times have confidence toward God, he is represented as hav- 
ing toward us the fond and tender affection of a father, ready 
to defend us, nourish us, provide for us, bear with us, forgive 
us, and take us in his arms of everlasting love. 

How does a father show his pity for his children ? 
Whom is it that the Lord pities ? 
What reason does the fourteenth verse give for his pitying 
them? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 131 

What does ' our frame ' mean ? 

How are we ' dust' ? Read Genesis ii : 7 and iii : 19. 
How does knowing our frame and remembering that 
we are dust lead God to pity us ? 
How are man's days like grass ? 

What is there in the wind, in that country, to make the 
grass wither ? Read Genesis xli : 6 and 23, and Jonah iv : 8. 
Explain ' it is gone.' 

4 As the hot, burning east wind destroys the grass and flow- 
ers after their short life, so the wind of suffering, trouble, and 
sickness destroys the spiritual flower, man.' 

Explain l the place of it shall know it no more/ 

The flower of the field, scorched by the hot wind, dies, and 
others grow in its stead, and every body forgets that it was 
there. 

How is his mercy from everlasting to everlasting ? 

Mercy to whom ? 

What is meant here by ' his righteousness ' ? 

Does this verse mean that, if God has mercy upon a 
person, he will certainly have mercy i on his children 
and children's children' ? 

Have we any right to expect God to forgive us be- 
cause he forgave our parents or grandparents ? 

But, if we sincerely try to serve God, ought we not, 
then, to expect God's mercy and favor, because he showed 
them to our parents and ancestors ? 
To what kind of people does verse eighteen say that God 
shows his righteousness and to their children's children ? 

What l covenant ' is meant ? 

What ' commandments ' are meant ? 

4 Those that remember' the commandments, or remem- 
ber what ? 
What is the fourth part of the psalm about ? 

See now how David mounts up above the world, borne aloft 
by the great thoughts of God which have filled his soul. He 



132 ' THE SENIOR YEAR. 

seems to see God's throne, as if himself in the very heavens ; 
and he calls on all angels above, and all stars and servants of 
God, and all his works to praise him. 

Does * hath prepared his throne in the heavens ' mean 
that there was ever a time when it was not prepared ? 

What descriptions can you find of the glory of his 
throne, the brightness of his majesty, and the might of 
his power? See Revelation iv : 1-5 ; v : 11-13. 
4 Kingdom ruleth over all ' : all what ? 
How many kinds of persons and things does David call to 
praise God in the rest of the psalm ? 

Whom do the angels l excel in strength ' ? 
Explain 4 hearkening ' and ' word ' in 4 hearkening unto 
the voice of his word/ 
Does 'all ye his hosts ' mean hosts of stars, or hosts of angels, 
or hosts of the redeemed, or all these different hosts ? 

How are the stars or angels God's ministers ? Read 
Hebrews i : 14, and Job xxxviii : 35. 

Does the doing of God's pleasure mean that it is plea- 
sant to them to do it ? 

Think of the height of David's thought, as it soars among 
the stars and angels, calling on them to praise God. . Think of 
the myriads of suns and stars and angels in that happy world 
of life, moving in the circles and going on their errands, full of 
happy work. 

* All his works ' : do not the twentieth and twenty-first verses 
include all that the twenty-second does ? 

It is as if David's soul, swelling with thoughts of God's 
greatness and goodness, would leave nothing out, and so he 
calls on every thing in every part of God's kingdom to praise 
their Ruler on his throne in the heavens. It is as if Davie} 
would have all creation at once, in their voices and glory, sing 
one anthem of praise. 

What is God's dominion t 

Name as many kinds of God's works, in all the places 



THE SENIOR YEAH. 133 

of his dominion, as you can, and show how they praise 
him. Eead Psalm xix : 1, 2. 

What is the last thing which David calls on to bless 
God? 

Think how his heart must have swelled as he went on from 
the beginning, until at the end he was too full of sublime ad- 
miration to do more than call on all things to bless God, and 
to call on his soul to unite with all the works of all his domi- 
nion in praising the goodness of God. 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVENTH PSALM. 

1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we 
remembered Zion. 

2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 

3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song ; 
and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the 
songs of Zion. 

4. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ? 

5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 'hand forget her cunnirg. 

6. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 

7. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem ; 
who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. 

8. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed ; happy shall he be, 
that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 

9. Happy shall he be, that taketii and dasheth thy little ones against 
the stones. 

In this psalm we are taken at once to Babylon, and see the 
Hebrew prisoners sitting under the willows on the river bank. 
Their heads are bowed, their hearts full of sorrow, their eves 
full of tears, as they think of Jerusalem and Zion, from which 
they have been torn away. 

Did David write this psalm ? 



134 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

How long after David's time wert the people carried 
off to Babylon ? 

Who were carried away captive ? Read II. Kings 
xxiv : 10, 14. 

Take notice that there are three parts of the psalm, each part 
three verses long. The first part shows the sorrow of the cap- 
tives at Babylon ; the second part shows the captives longing 
for Jerusalem and Zion ; the third part shows the captives re- 
turned and praying for the destruction of their enemies. 

First Part. — What rivers were the rivers of Babylon ? 

Notice the force of the word ' there? By the rivers of Baby- 
lon — yes, there in that desolate place — we sat down, desolate 
and alone. 

Was, or was not, the country of Babylon beautiful ? 
Read Isaiah xxxvi : 17, and II. Kings xviii : 32. 

What was the cause of their weeping ? 
Do you think the captives really carried harps to Babylon, 
or is this only a figure of speech, showing their sorrow ? 

Is a harp a musical instrument for times of joy or 
for times of sorrow ? Read Genesis xxxi : 27 ; Job 
xxx : 31. 

What does the hanging of the harp on the tree sig- 
nify ? 

4 In the midst thereof : of the city or of the empire ? 

Who were ' they that carried away' the Hebrews cap- 
tive ? See Ezra ii : 1. 

Give the meaning of 'they that wasted us.' 

How did they wish the Hebrews to show their 
mirth ? 

Think what a depth of bitterness was in the heart of these 
captives when, besides the burning of their temple, the enemy 
in their own land and their own captivity, their captors asked 
them to sing one of the temple-songs in that land of idolatry 
and of exile. See Proverbs xxv : 20. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 135 

Second Part. — Are the next three verses spoken to those 
who captured them, or not ? 

Is verse four a question, or merely an exclamation ? 

4 If I forget thee, Jerusalem ' : would singing the songs 
of Zion in Babylon be forgetfulness of Jerusalem ? 

Explain 4 let my right hand forget her cunning.' 
What is meant by ' let my tongue cleave to the roof 
of my mouth ' ? 

The right hand was used to play the harp, and the tongue 
to sing the song. And the meaning is : ' If I play for mere 
sport, forgetful of the sacredness of God's city and God's 
house, may the hand with which I play lose its skill to play, 
and my tongue with which I sing cling to the roof of my 
mouth. 7 

How could he "prefer Jerusalem above his chief joy ? 

Third Part. — What is the subject of the last part of Vae 
psalm ? 

4 Remember,' etc. : does he pray God to remember 
the children of Edom to bless them, or to curse them ? 

What prophets prophesied against Edom ? Read 
Jeremiah xlix : 17, 18 ; Ezekiel xxv : 12-14. 

The whole of the short prophecy of Obadiah is * concerning 
Edom.' Read the first and fourth verses and from the tenth 
to the fifteenth verse. And remembering that Mount Seir 
was the region where the children of Esau or Edom lived, read, 
too, Ezekiel xxxv : 1-9. You will see what God directed the 
prophets to say against Edom. Read, too, the reason for pun- 
ishing Edom in Ezekiel xxv : 12-14. 

Does i the day of Jerusalem' mean the day of Jeru- 
salem's destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, or the day 
when Jerusalem was rebuilt by Nehemiah, or the day 
of its future prosperity ? 

Give the meaning of 4 Rase it, rase it, even to the 
foundations thereof.' 

Who was it that said, ' Rase it, rase it ' ? 



136 THE SENIOR YE All. 

If you will read Ezekiel xxxv : 10, you will see what the 
Edomites said against the two nations of Israel and Samaria. 
And in the twelfth verse you will see how the Edomites 
blasphemed' against Israel and Israel's God. 
Who was ' the daughter of Babylon ' ? 

A city was often described in poetry in those times as a 
daughter or young woman — as among us, one might say in 
high, poetic language, 4 daughter of Washington, who dost 
sit at the head of the nation.' The daughter of Tyre is the 
city of Tyre ; daughter of Sidon is city of Sidon. l virgin 
daughter of Babylon,' and i daughter of the Chaldeans,' and 
4 lady of the kingdoms,' is the city of Babylon. 

4 Who art to be destroyed' : who prophesied before 
this time against Babylon ? Read Isaiah xlvii : 5, 7, 
11 ; Jeremiah li : 1-3, 6-11, 24. 

Read the rest of the verse with careful emphasis : 4 Happy 
shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. y 

It is as if he said, c Babylon ought to be destroyed, and 
happy is the man who shall do it.' Read Obadiah 15. 

How can you make the wish that Babylon may be 
served, as Babylon has served us, agree with Matthew 
v : 43, 44 ? 

We have no right to return evil for good ; but God may say 
to us that a certain person or city or country is full of wicked- 
ness, and is to be destroyed, and bid us be glad over its de- 
struction. 

Would this wish be in accordance with prophecy, or 
not? 

Is it right, or not, to wish that Satan may be pun- 
ished ? 

What still more fearful wish is there in the last 
verse ? 

Was it customary in war to kill little children in this 
way? See Nahum iii : 10 ; Isaiah xiii : 16 ; and IT. 
Chronicles xxv : 12. 






THE SENIOR YEAR. 137 

This verse, then, means that all the horrors of war shall 
come on Babylon just as Babylon had brought all the horrors 
of war on Jerusalem and the Hebrews. And so great is the 
wickedness of Babylon, that happy shall he be who shall pun- 
ish her with the same awful cruelties which she has made 
others feel. 

What prophecy shows that this is the meaning of 
these last two verses ? Read Isaiah xiii : 1, 6, 9, 11, 
and from 16 to 22. 



C{mii|-fam fc ilj Sunto + 

THE PROVERBS. 

CHAPTER I. 

The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. 

7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge ; but fools de- 
spise wisdom and instruction. 

8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of 
thy mother : 

9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains 
about thy neck. 

10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 

11. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk pri- 
vily for the innocent without cause : 

12. Let us swallow them up alive, as the grave ; and whole, as those that 
go down into the pit : 

13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with 
spoil : 

14. Cast in thy lot among us ; let us all have one purse : 

15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them ; refrain thy foot from 
their path : 

16. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 

17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 

18. And they lay wait for their own blood ; they lurk privily for their 
own lives. 

J.9. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain ; which taketh 
away the life of the owners thereof. 

What is a proverb ? Answer. A short, wise saying which 
expresses something which all people see to be true. 



138 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

All people may not see that a proverb is true when it is 
spoken the first time, but, as they think of it and find out its 
meaning, they see it to be true. 

Whose proverbs are these in this book ? 
How many proverbs did Solomon speak? See 
I. Kings iv : 32. 
This lesson does not contain regular proverbs, but is a part 
of the introduction to the book of Proverbs. 

Three things are spoken of in this lesson : first, The Fear of 
God ; secondly, Obedience to Parents; and thirdly, Bad Com- 
pany. 

What does the wise Solomon say is the beginning of. know- 
ledge ? 

The fear of the Lord means Reverence for God, or Respect 
for God. 

How is Reverence for God the beginning of know- 
ledge ? Answer. If a person wishes to begin to gain 
knowledge, he must have respect for Teachers of 
knowledge ; and, as God is the Source of all knowledge, 
he must, first of all, have respect for what the Infinite 
Teacher says. 

What is the difference between ' wisdom' and 'in- 
struction' ? Answer. Wisdom is the knowledge how 
to perceive what is just and right and true. Instruction 
is the teaching of knowledge. 

Why do 'fools' despise wisdom and instruction? 
Answer. Because they think they know enough already. 

A wise man always thinks that he knows very little of what 
there is to be known ; and a fool thinks it is not worth the 
labor to try to be wiser than he is. 

What is the subject of the next two verses ? 

Does Solomon mean by ' my son ' his own son or not ? 
How tender and affectionate are these words in the lips of 
this venerable and wise king to every young man ! 

Explain * hear the instruction of thy father.' 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 139 

What is * the law of thy mother ' ? 
What is it i that shall be an ornament of grace ' ? 

An ornament of grace is a graceful ornament. A crown or 
a wreath gives the head dignity and beauty ; and so a wise son 
instructed by a wise father, and remembering the rules of a 
good mother, will have dignity and grace in his face and his 
behavior. 

1 And chains about thy neck' :. how will they be like 
chains about the neck ? 

Which was the greater ornament to Joseph, his re- 
spect for his father or the chains which Pharach put 
about his neck ? Read Genesis xli : 42. 
What is the subject of the rest of the lesson ? 

* Come with us' : i sinners love company in sin ; the angels 
that fell were tempters almost as soon as they were sinners.' 

What is meant by ' entice ' ? 
4 Consent thou not ' to what ? 

Notice carefully that what the wicked say to entice a young 
man reaches through the fourteenth verse, and in the fifteenth 
verse the opposite part of the sentence begins. Read like this : 
If they say — what is in the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and 
fourteenth verses — 4 then, my son, walk not thou,' etc. 

What do they propose to do — in the eleventh verse ? 

Does t lurk privily for the innocent without cause ' 
mean that they would kill the innocent without any rea- 
son for it ? 

Think of the robbers of those Eastern lands ; of the Arabs of 
Syria now, as they go out to plunder. No matter who comes, 
nor how innocent he may be, they look for him privily, and 
seize him or shed his blood if he resists. 

What do they mean by 'swallow them up alive as the 
grave' ? Answer. Perhaps the young man might think, If we 
shed blood, we will be found out, and they say, No, we will 



140 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

destroy them utterly and bury them in the earth. See Gene- 
sis xxxvii : 24. 

What is the reason which they give for doing this ? 
What is meant by ' all precious substance ' ? 

They call it precious substance ; but a robber's or a murder- 
er's wealth is blood-stained wealth. 

What is the 'spoil'? 
Explain l cast in thy lot with usS 

See how the money and the booty are held up as the entice- 
ment to ' come with us.' Be one of us, and we will all do it 
together. ' They do not threaten or argue, but entice with 
flattery and fair speech.' 

What does c all have one purse ' mean ? 
What does Solomon direct a young man tempted in this way 
to do ? 

Explain ' Refrain thy foot,' etc. 
What reasons for not walking with them, in the sixteenth 
verse ? 

What kind of evil do they ' make haste ' to do ? 
Does 'in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird' 
mean that, if you set your net or trap for a bird while the bird 
sees you, you will not catch the bird, or that, even though the 
bird see you spread the net, it will yet be enticed by the bait 
into it ? 

What is the net in which these robbers are taken ? 
Answer. The just laws which will punish them. 

1 The murderer and the thief see the jail and the gallows 
before them, and yet they rush into sin and rush on in it. 

How do they lay wait for their own blood ? Read Psalm 
vii : 15, 16. 

How do they lurk privily for their own lives ? 

Does the first part of the nineteenth verse mean that every 
one greedy of gain does the same as a robber ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 141 

What does 'greedy of gain' mean? 

People who are greedy in making money are tempted to 
cheat and to be cruel toward others, and even to rob the poor, 
the widow, and the fatherless. Many men are so anxious to 
make money that they actually do these horrid crimes. 

What does the Scripture say about those that love 
money ? Read I. Timothy vi : 10. 

Can one make money without loving money ? 

What is it ' which taketh away the life of the owners 
thereof? How? 

4 The greediness of gain hurries them on to those practices 
which will not suffer them to live out half their days.' 



PROVERBS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be wise : 

7. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, 

8. Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the 
harvest. 

9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard ? when wilt thou arise out of 
thy sleep ? 

10. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to 
sleep : 

11. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an 
armed man. 

16. These six things doth the Lord hate : yea, seven are an abomination 
unto him : 

17. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 

18. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in 
ruuning to mischief, 

19. A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among 
brethren. 



142 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

CHAPTER X. 

t. The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketli a glad father : but a 
foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. 

7. The memory of the just is blessed : but the name of the wicked shall 
rot. 

What is a sluggard ? 

A sluggard is an indolent, idle, slothful fellow, who cannot 
be started up to work of any kind. 

Why does Solomon send the sluggard to the ant ? 

The ant and the bee are two of the smallest insects, but 
they are great workers, never idle or slothful. 

How is the sluggard to learn to be wise by consider- 
ing the ways of the ant ? 
What does the seventh verse say that the ant does not have ? 

The ants, like sheep, go in companies, and like sheep, they 
have no one among them who is their ruler or overseer or 
guide. 

What does the eighth verse say that the ant does without 
them? 

For what does she provide food in the summer and 
in harvest ? 

In cold countries the ant lies torpid in the winter, and does 
not need food gathered in summer ; but in the warmer coun- 
tries, the food she gathers in summer may be used in winter. 

Learn from the ant how to provide, sluggard ! She has 
more work and wit than thou. 

But does Solomon say that the ant lays up food for 
winter ? 
Suppose that an infidel should say that what Solomon says 
about the ant in this verse is not true, because we now know 
that the ant does not eat in winter, how would you answer him ? 
Answer. First, that Solomon does not really say that the ant 
lays up food to eat in winter. Secondly, that, if he did, there 



THE SENIOR YE4R. 143 

may be some kind of ant in the warmer climate of Palestine 
which does or did eat food in winter. Thirdly, that, if there is 
no such kind of ant, Solomon spoke according to what every 
body believed, just as God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, 
about the foundations of the earth, and as he speaks about 
the rising of the sun and the going down of the same. 

What one thing is there, in the ninth verse, which a sluggard 
does t 

But the sluggard is so dull and heavy with sleep that it 
seems as if he would never be done. How long, sluggard, 
wilt thou sleep ? The ant has been long at her work. The 
bee has long been on the wing. The thrifty workman has 
filled the morning full of work. Even the very spider has 
woven her web. AYhen wilt thou arise out of thy sleep ? 

Who says the tenth verse, Solomon or the sluggard ? 

Talk to a sluggard, tell him of the ant and the bee and of 
busy men, and of what he ought to do, and this is all the an- 
swer you get: 4 Just a little more sleep; let me turn myself 
over once more, and then I will arise.' 

What two things will come upon a sluggard who does not 
break away from his sluggishness ? 

Like what will poverty come ? 

As a traveller keeps directly on his way and makes progress 
all the while, so will poverty come, making progress all the 
while, the sluggard growing poorer and poorer. 

How will his poverty show itself in his possessions ? 
Read Proverbs xxiv : 30-34. 
Like what will want come ? 

Want is the very hunger and nakedness of poverty, and the 
sluggard might as well try to drive off an armed man as to 
drive off the fierce attack of hunger and cold. 

How can a man be a sluggard in respect to his soul ? 

How many things are mentioned in the sixteenth verse 
which God hates ? 



144 HIE SENIOR YEAR. 

What is the difference between their being hateful 
and abominable ? 
What are the first three things ? 

What is it that keeps men from seeking God ? Read 
Psalm x : 4. 

It was probably pride that made Satan fall from heaven. 
He wanted to be as great as God. And pride rises up in a 
wicked man's heart against God. He wants to have his own 
way, as if it were better than God's way. 

What shows that God especially hates lying lips ? 
Read Revelation xxi : 8, 27 ; xxii : 15. 

God loves to have the truth known just as it is. If all men 
should tell things differently from what they are, who could 
know what to do ? Heaven itself would be put into confusion 
if liars were to enter there. 

Can you think of more than one class of people meant 
by i hands that have shed innocent blood ' ? 
What are the next two things in the next verse ? 

Which does this verse say is abominable to God, 
wicked imaginations or a heart that deviseth wicked 
imaginations ? 

What is meant by devising wicked imaginations ? 

And such a heart can never be so hid that it is not abomina- 
ble in the sight of God. Read Proverbs iv : 23. 

Does feet that be swift in running to mischief include 
people who go without thought into mischief ? 

See how the different parts of the body are named : the 
eyes — a proud look ; the lips — lying lips ; the hands, the heart, 
the feet. These are all what one does in respect to himself — 
the other two things have to do with our neighbors. 

What are the other two of the seven things ? 

What two persons does a false witness injure ? 

Can a person be God's child who lets his heart and 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 145 

body go free to such 'imaginations' and such kinds of 
'mischief ? 
Repeat the first proverb. 

What is it in a 'wise son' which makes his father 
glad ? 

What wise son in the Scriptures made a glad father ? 
Read Genesis xlvi : 29. 

What is it in a foolish son which gives his mother a 
heavy heart ? 

What foolish sons in the Scriptures gave their father 
a heavy heart ? Read I. Samuel ii : 12, 17 ; iv : 15-18 ; 
and II. Samuel xviii : 33. 
Repeat the next proverb. 

Does the ' memory of the just ' mean the remembrance 
of the just before he is dead or after ? 

Does 'just' mean honest with God and man, or does 
it simply mean a good and upright man ? 

Give any examples from the Scriptures of just men 
whose memory is blessed. 

What is meant by 'the name of the wicked shall 
roV? 

While the names of such men as Moses and David shall be 
blessed by all people, the name of such a man as Judas the 
Traitor shall remain only as a disgusting and a rotten thing. 



PROVERBS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

25. The liberal soul shall be made fat : and he that watereth shall bo 
watered also himself. 

CHAPTER XV. 

1. A soft answer turneth away wrath : but grievous words stir up anger. 



146 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

CHAPTER XX. 

1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging : and whosoever is deceived 
thereby is not wise. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving 
favor rather than silver and gold. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

21. If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat ; and if he be 
thirsty, give him water to drink : 

22. For thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord shall 
reward thee. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

6. Faithful are the wounds of a friend ; but the kisses of an enemy are 
deceitful. 

CHAPTER XXVTII. 

13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper : but whoso confesseth 
and forsaketh them shall find mercy. 

Repeat the first proverb of the lesson. 

Does it mean that the liberal soul shall be made fat 
with riches or fat with satisfaction ? 

Explain 4 he that watereth' and 'shall be watered/ 

A stingy soul is made lean : it is close and small and un- 
happy. Liberality sets in motion all the pleasantest feelings 
of the soul, many more pleasant feelings than receiving does. 
He that gives money to water the thirsty and feed the hungry 
or clothe the naked has greater happiness than the thirsty or 
hungry or naked who receive it. 

Does liberality of soul mean merely liberality in 
money ? 
In the next proverb, what is meant by ' a soft answer ' ? 

An angry man expects the one against whom he is angry to 
be angry in return ; but if, instead of answering harshly or an- 
grily, he answers calmly and mildly, the angry man is ashamed 
of his anger. 

How do grievous words stir up anger ? 






THE SENIOR YE All. 147 

It is as if anger was a fire just ready to die out, and griev- 
ous words stir up the embers to be a flame again. 

How is wine a mocker ? 

Wine is beautiful in the glass — it looks pleasant to the taste, 
it seems to promise much pleasure ; but it tempts one on to 
more and more, until it gives suffering instead of pleasure. It 
promises much pleasure — it mocks us with much pain. 

Show from the Scriptures that wine is a mocker ? See 
Proverbs xxiii : 29-32. 

What is meant by * strong drink ' ? 

How is strong drink 'raging'? Answer. It makes 
men raging or boisterous. It is like a raging devil in a 
man, which makes him noisy and reckless in the street 
and at home. 

How are persons deceived by wine and strong drink ? 

Wine, even in Solomon's time, was deceitful, leading men 
on from worse to worse. And wine in our country is far worse 
than the wine of Judea. 

What persons in the Scriptures were deceived by 
using wine ? Read Genesis ix : 20, 21 ; I. Samuel 
xxv : 36 ; II. Samuel xiii : 28 ; I. Kings xx : 16 ; Esther 
i : 7, 8, and 10 , 11 ; Daniel v : 1-4 
Before what is ' a good name ' to be chosen ? 

For what are l great riches ' ever chosen ? 

How does a good name give the same things which 
riches give ? 

Which would you rather have, great riches and a 
bad name, or a good name without riches V 

How is a good name to be obtained ? 

What is 4 loving favor ' ? Answer. ' The sweetness 
of being esteemed and loved by our neighbors. 7 



All the gold and silver cannot make people love you, and 
no one can be happy unless he is loved. Even a child can have 



loving favor. 



148 THE SENIOR YEA.-R. 

Why is loving favor better than silver and gold ? 
Are a good name and loving favor better than a good 
conscience ? 
What reason does Solomon give for giving food and water 
to our enemies ? 

Explain how such acts are coals of fire on an enemy's 
head. 

* The idea of a furnace for smelting mineral ore is introduced 
here. It is necessary that the burning coals should be above 
the ore as well as beneath it. Love poured out in return for 
hatred will be what the burning coals are to the ore — it will 
purify and melt it.' 

What law did Moses give like this ? Read Exodus 
xxiii : 4. 

Who quoted these words in the New Testament ? 
See Romans xii : 20. 

A tract was once written on the subject, l The Man who 
Killed his Neighbors? which is a story of a good man, who, 
by giving good for evil, killed the anger and hatred of wicked 
men around him until they were good and loving neighbors. 

Are we always to expect that every single act of re- 
turning evil for good will melt down an enemy's hatred ? 

Show the highest example of giving good for evil in 
the Scriptures. Read Romans v : 8 and 10, and Luke 
xxiii : 34. 

But, if we do not gain over our enemy, what reward 
shall there be ? 

The exercise of love is its own reward, and, if it does win the 
enemy, it give the happiness which God made always to go 
with its use.. 

What two things are contrasted in the next proverb ? 
What are a friend's wounds f 

If a friend tells us that we have faults, then we can correct 
them and become better than we were. There is no one who 



THE SENIOR YEAR 149 

has no faults ; and if a man never has any one tell him that 
he has faults, he has good reason to think that he has no faith- 
ful friends. 

Show from the Scriptures how the kisses of an enemy 
are deceitful. Read II. Samuel xx : 9, 10 ; Matthew 
xxvi : 49, 50. 
What is meant by * covereth his sins ' ? 

Show from the Scriptures one man who covered his 
sins. Read Joshua vii : 20, 21. 

Does it mean covering his sins from others, from self, 
or from God ? 

How are we to obtain mercy from God ? 

Can we obtain mercy if we do not confess ? 

Confess to whom ? 

Can we obtain mercy if we confess and do not for- 
sake ? 

What king in one of the psalms confessed and for- 
. sook his sin and found mercy ? 

What son in the gospels confessed and forsook and 
found mercy ? See Luke xv : 18-23. 



ECCLESIASTES. 

CHAPTER XII. 

1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil 
days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no 
pleasure in them ; 

2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, he not dark- 
ened ; nor the clouds return after the rain : 

3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the 
strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are 
few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened ; 

4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the 



150 THE SEXIOB YEAR, 

grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird ; and all the 
daughters of music shall be brought low ; 

5. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall 
be in the way, and the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper 
shall be a burden, and desire shall fail ; because man goeth to his long 
home, and the mourners go about the streets : 

6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or 
the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern : 

7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall 
return unto God who gave it. 

Who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes ? See chapter i : 1, 12, 
and 16. 

Whom aoes Solomon tell to l Kemember } their Creator ? 

Notice that he does not say Remember thy God, or Remember 
the Lord, but Remember him who created thee. 

4 Remember noio V when does now mean ? 

What a shameful thing it is, and a mean thing, too, to use 
up the best part of life for ourselves, and then to give our wise 
and good Creator only the poor end of life ! 

What 4 evil days ' are meant by 4 while the evil days 
come not ' ? 

If a child neglects his Creator in the days of his youth, the 
evil days of sickness or of great troubles may so overwhelm 
him that he will find it very hard to begin to serve God. 

Read the rest of the verse in this way, ' Nor those years 
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. 7 

No pleasure in what ? 

If, when you are young, the only things which you take 
pleasure in are what you taste, see, feel, and hear with the 
body, when the body grows old, you will be weary of these 
things, and be ready to say, I have no pleasure in these 3^eara 
of old age. 

Does ' the sun,' 'the light,' 'the moon,' and * the stars' mean 
the heavenly bodies, or are they figures of speech for joy ful- 
ness and mirth and prosperity ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 151 

The heavenly bodies look dim to very old people, because 
their eye-sight fails ; the sport and mirth and gay spirits of 
youth fail. 

"What is meant by c nor the clouds return after the 
rain'? 

Read in this way, Remember now thy Creator in the days 
of thy youth, while the evil days, etc., while the sun, etc., are 
not darkened, and while the clouds do not return after the 
rain. Generally after the rain is over the sun comes out, and 
the clouds pass away. But to the old, one storm follows 
another. 

When does the third verse say that these things will hap- 
pen ? 

The next four verses are a very beautiful poetical description 
of the body in old age. In the third and fourth verses the 
body is likened to a house : the ' keepers of the house' are the 
head, the arms, and the hands ; the c strong men ' are the feet, 
knees, and legs, the strongest members ; the l grinders ' are 
the women within the house, who grind with the upper and 
lower millstones, that is, the teeth which grind the food ; 
4 those that look out of the windows ' are the eyes. 

Where in the Scriptures is the body compared to a 
house ? See Job iv : 19 ; 2 Corinthians v : 1. 

How do ' the keepers ' of this house tremble when it 
is old ? 

How do ' the strong men bow themselves ' ? 

Why do ' the grinders cease ' ? 

How are those that look out of the windows dark- 
ened ? Read Genesis xxvii : 1. 

4 The eyelids open and shut like the casements of a window.' 
In the fourth verse ' the doors in the streets or toward the 
street' are the lips ; l the sound of grinding' is the silence of 
the mouth in eating ; l the voice of the bird' is the bird's song 
in the very early morning, when old people rise ; and 4 the 



152 THE SENIOK YKAR. 

daughters of music ' are the voice and the ear, with which to 
make and to enjoy music. 

Where in the Scriptures are the lips represented as doors ? 
See Psalm cxli : 3. 

Explain c the sound of the grinding is low.' 
Explain ' rise up at the voice of the bird. 7 

The least noise, like the chirp or the twittering of a bird, 
awakens the aged from their disturbed slumbers, and calls 
them up. 

The next two verses give other beautiful descriptions of the 
old man— different from that of the house. 

Why are old men afraid of that w r hich is high ? 

How are their fears in the way where they walk ? 
What is meant by ' the almond-tree shall flourish f ? 
Answer. The almond-tree has white blossoms, and the 
white head of the old man is like an almond-tree in full 
blossom. 

What is meant by 'the grasshopper is a burden' ? 
4 Old men can bear nothing. The lightest thing, no heavier 
than a grasshopper, sets heavy both on their bodies and on 
their minds ; a little thing sinks and breaks them.' 

Explain how l desire shall fail.' 

What is the reason given at the end of this verse why 
all these things come upon the aged ? 
What is l his long home ' ? 
How do ' the mourners go about the streets ' ? 

This does not mean that the mourners dressed in black go 
about the streets after the funeral is over. It is the custom in 
the East to hire women to mourn for the dead, and they go 
through the streets to their place of wailing and lamentation. 

What is the meaning of ' or ever' in the sixth verse ? An- 
swer. As soon as. 

We may read it in two ways : ' and the mourners go about 
the streets as soon as the silver cord be loosed,' etc. ; or, as 






THE SENIOR YEAR. 153 

soon as the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl, etc., then 
(seventh verse) shall the dust return, etc. 

How many things are spoken of in this verse as broken or 
unloosed ? 

A lamp of gilded glass or gilded china ware, looking like a 
golden bowl, is, in the East, hung from the ceiling by a cord 
of twisted silver and silk ; and as, when the silver cord is 
loosened, the golden bowl falls and breaks, and the light is put 
out, so is the light of life put out at death. 

At a fountain or well or cistern in the East, the pitcher is 
sometimes let down by a rope around a wheel. And as when 
the pitcher is dashed against the stone, and the water spilled, 
or the wheel is broken, so that no water can be drawn, so is 
the water of life spilled from the body at death, and the ma- 
chinery by which life was carried on broken. 

Explain, now, ; silver cord,' i golden bowl/ ' pitcher, 1 
1 fountain,' and ■ wheel.' 
What, then, becomes of the body, according to the seventh 
verse ? 

* To the earth as it icas? As it was wlien t Read 
Genesis hi : 19. 

The very body in -which you and I live, so beautiful in its 
form, in its face, and eyes, so curious in its hands and feet and 
limbs, so wonderful in its heart and blood and brain, so mys- 
terious in the life which is in it, must one day crumble back, 
all of it, into particles of dust, like those of which God so won- 
derfully formed it at first. 

What will become of the spirit ? 
How did God give the spirit at the first ? Read 
Genesis ii : 7 ; Job xxxiii : 4. 
Does Solomon mean in this chapter that all old people are 
miserable ? Read Proverbs xvi : 31, and xx : 29. 

Is it desirable that we should live to a good old ag* ? See 
Genesis xv : 15, xxv : 8 ; Job v : 26. 

To make old age happy, what are we to do in our youth * 



154 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

ECCLESIASTES. 

CHAPTER XII. 

8. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher ; all is vanity. 

9. And, moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught tho 
people knowledge ; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in 
order many proverbs. 

10. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words : and that which 
was written was upright, even words of truth. 

11. The words of ihe wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the 
masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. 

12. And further, by these, my son, be admonished : of making many 
books there is no end ; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. 

13. Let ns hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God, and 
keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty of man. 

14. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret 
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 

Where, in the book of Ecclesiastes, has the Preacher before 
said 'Vanity of vanities/ etc. ? Find it in the first chapter. 

4 Vanity of vanities ' means the most empty vanity, as ' ser- 
vant of servants' means the lowest servant, and c song of songs' 
means the sweetest song, and 4 holy of holies' means the most 
holy place, and the ' heaven of heavens ' the highest heavens. 

4 All is vanity' : all what ? 

Does Solomon mean that the whole world is in vain ? 

Surely God did not make the world in vain. It is full of 
good things, which can give solid satisfaction. Its sea and 
land and sky and stars, its beasts and birds, its wealth and 
beauty were not made in vain. But, if any one tries to use 
them only to satisfy the taste and sight and smell and hearing 
and feeling of the body, they give no satisfaction. They leave 
the soul of man empty, in the very emptiness of emptiness. 

How did the Preacher show to the people that he was ' wise' ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 155 

In what three books of the Bible did Solomon teach 
the people knowledge ? 
Probably Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon and the Pro- 
verbs before he wrote Eeclesiastes ; and so he says he still 
taught the people in this book. 

' He gave good heed' : to what ? 

How many proverbs did he seek out and set in order ? 
For whom, then, did he* 4 set in order' the proverbs ? 
Are there any proverbs in the book of Eeclesiastes ? 
What kind of words did c . the Preacher seek to find out ' ? 
i Acceptable ' : to whom ? 

Solomon had been through all the pleasures of life, had had 
riches and wisdom and honor, and all that heart could wish ; 
and, to make the people see what is wise and what is foolish, 
what' is good and what is wicked, he ' finds out' figures of 
speech and sharp and brilliant sentences, which will stick fast 
in the people's minds. 

What is meant by what 'was written was upright 1 ? 
Must words which pretend to be wise words, be words 
of truth in order to be acceptable ? 

Perhaps Solomon taught the people his proverbs and wise 
sayings in assemblies which gathered to hear him speak. Read 
I. Kings iv : 34, and x : 1-3, 8. 

What are ' goads ' ? 

The words of wise men are sharp-pointed, and will pierce the 
dullest mind, as an ox-goad will pierce an ox-hide. 

How are the words of the wise like ' nails ' ? 

Wise words, like goads, push on the dull ; wise words, like 
nails, hold firm the fickle and the wavering. 

Who are meant by 4 masters of assemblies ' ? Answer. 
The chief teachers or presiding officers of the congrega- 
tion. 

How do they fasten their words as nails ? 

4 Which are given from one shepherd ' : what are given 



156 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

from one shepherd — the assemblies or the masters, or 
the nails or the words of the wise ? 

Who is the one Shepherd who gives the words of 
highest wisdom ? 

Does ; by these be admonished,' in the twelfth verse, mean 
Be admonished by these words of the wise, or Be admonished 
in respect to making many books and in respect to much 
study ? 

What does 4 admonished ' mean ? 
Why does he admonish him that there is no end of 
making books ? 

Many persons think they may find happiness if they can but 
write and publish a book, or be the author of many books ; 
but Solomon means that, if you should be the author of many 
books, you would still wish to be the writer of more. Making 
books which all the world will read, cannot itself give satisfac- 
tion, any more than gold can satisfy the soul. 

How does c much study weary the flesh ' ? 

The body is tired with the labor of study, and the soul can- 
not be surely profited by human learning. ' Do not expect,' 
Solomon means, l that books or study or human wisdom will 
give you solid satisfaction, more than the world itself.' 

What does he mean by 'the whole matter' ? Ansicer. The 
whole matter of life. 

Solomon has said that all of life, if it is lived for this world 
only, is empty and vanity. He said, 1 1 have seen all the works 
that are done under the sun ; and behold, all is vanity and vexa- 
tion of spirit.' What is life, then, good for ? i The conclusion 
of the whole matter is this.' 

What two things does he say are the whole conclu- 
sion ? 

For what reason should he do these things ? 
Explain 'whole duty of man,' 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 157 

What great reason is there, given in the fourteenth verse^ 
why man should do his whole duty ? 

What is meant by 4 bring every worh into judgment ' ? 
Ansicer. Every doing, every deed. 

What besides every work will be brought into judg- 
ment ? 

Every secret thing, good or evil ; nothing can escape. Ail 
deeds, and plans, and thoughts, and imaginations, and desires 
will be judged. 

If we do the whole duty of man, will we be con- 
demned or not at the judgment ? 

Have you always done the two things which are the 
whole duty of man ? 

How, then, can you escape being condemned at that 
great day? Repeat John iii : 16, 17. 



^Ijirig-mntlj jjimbag, 

REVIEW LESSON FOR THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE YEAR. 

In what books of the Bible have the lessons been this quar- 
ter? 

What four psalms ? 
The Ninetieth Psalm. 
What does the title of the Ninetieth Psalm say the psalm is ? 

What is God called in this psalm ? 

To what is God's life compared? 

To what is man's life compared ? 

What is the ca'use why man's life is cut short ? 

What is the reason why God cuts it short ? 

In what way is God's anger seen when it is cut off? 

What is it to have the beauty of God upon us ? 

How does that make us glad and joyful all our days ? 



158 THE SENIOR YEAR, 

The Ninety-first Psalm. 

"What is the subject of this psalm ? 

To what is God likened in the first two verses ? 

From what things does he promise to protect us ? 

Do these things represent spiritual enemies or not ? 

Who once quoted a part of this psalm to our Lord ? 

In what four ways does the last part of the psalm 
show that God will love the man who trusts in him ? 

Who can have the long life and salvation promised in 
the last verse ? 
The One Hundred and Third Psalm. 

What five things does David thank God for in the 
first five verses ? 

What wonderful acts of God does David describe ? 

Show how he represents the height of God's mercy. 

Show how he represents the breadth of God's forgive- 
ness. 

How does he represent the tenderness of God's pity ? 

How does he describe God in the last part of the 
psalm ? 

The One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Psalm. 

What time does this psalm celebrate ? 

What does the first part of the psalm show ? 

What does the second part show ? 

What does the third part show ? 

Explain 4 right hand forget her cunning ' and ' tongue 
cleave to the roof of my mouth.' 

How do you explain the harsh wishes against Baby- 
lon in the last part of the psalm ? 

The Proverbs. 

What is a proverb ? 

What three things are spoken of in the introduction 
to the proverbs ? 

How is the fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge ? 
How are parents' instructions ornaments to the head 
and neck ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR* 159 

What kind of wicked people does he describe to re- 
present bad company ? 

What is the strongest part in their enticement ? 

For what reasons does Solomon advise young men 
not to go with them ? 
To whom does Solomon send the sluggard ? For what ? 

What is the result of the sluggard's sloth ? 
What seven things are an abomination unto God ? 
Repeat some of the proverbs of Solomon. 

What is it in a wise son which makes a father glad, 
and in a foolish son which makes a mother heavy- 
hearted ? 

How is the liberal soul made fat ? 

Why does a soft answer turn away wrath ? 

Show how wine mocks and deceives. 

What persons in the Scriptures were deceived by 
wine ? 

Why is a good name rather to be chosen than great 
riches ? 

What good thing is better than a good name ? 

What is the best way to melt an enemy V 

Why is it better to have the wounds of a faithful 
friend than the kisses of an enemy ? 

What two things is it necessary for us sinful men to 
do in order to find mercy ? 

ECCLESIASTES. 

What is the meaning of the word Ecclesiastes ? 

What does he tell us to do in our youth ? 

How does he describe the body as a house in old age ? 

Explain 'the almond-tree shall flourish.' 

Explain 'the mourners go about the streets.' 

How does he describe death by a lamp and a foun- 
tain? 

What does he say becomes of the body and the spirit 
at death ? 

What does he mean by ' vanity of vanities ' ? 



160 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Explain the words of the wise are as ' goads ' and as 
* nails.' 

What is ' the conclusion of the whole matter ' ? 

Where will every thing we do and think be tested at 
the last ? 

What is the only sure way of enduring that test ? 
Read I. John ii : 1, 2. 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH PSALM. 

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. ' 

1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 

2. Thouknowest my down-sitting, and mine up-rising ; thou understand- 
est my thought afar off. 

3. Thou compassest my path, and my lying down, and art acquainted 
with all my ways. 

4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou know- 
est it altogether. 

5. Thou hast heset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 

6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain 
unto it, 

7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy 
presence ? 

8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, 
behold, thou art there. 

David has been thinking of the knowledge of God : how it 
knows every thing, however little, and how it knows all things, 
however great, and how God himself is everywhere present ; 
and in this psalm he is astonished at God's knowledge, and 
praises him as the Omniscient God. 

Perhaps David wrote this psalm when he was young, and 
when he was accused of wishing to kill King Saul and make 
himself king. If he did, this psalm is his solemn appeal to 
God that he knows that he is innocent of any such thing. 

AThat two things does David say of the Lord, in the first 
ferse ? 






THE SENIOR YEAR. 1C1 

What is the difference between ; searched' and 
* known ' ? 

David says searched me, as if he had been thinking what a 
whole world of life there was in himself: how many thoughts 
and feelings, how many deeds and words, how many places he 
had been in, how many persons he had met, how much he 
had felt and thought and done alone by himself. 4 Thou, 
Lord,' he says, 4 hast searched the whole world of my life, and 
hast known it all.' 

What two things does David say that God knows, in the 
second verse ? 

What is meant by i my down-sitting ' and 4 mine up- 
rising ' ? 

Does it make God appear greater or smaller to think 
that he notices all such small acts as sitting down and 
rising up ? 

What other kind of God's knowledge, in tne last part 
of the verse ? 

Is God really ' afar off' from any of us ? Head Acts 
xvii : 27. 

One of the most wonderful things about God's knowledge 
is, that, though he were as far from us as the universe is long, 
yet he understands every thought in an instant. God's know- 
ledge is not hindered by distance. 

Does ' my thought ' mean my plan which I am think- 
ing of carrying out, or every thought in my mind ? 
What does ' compassest my path J mean ? 

To compass any thing is to go about it, and to compass 
one's path is as if a person should go around a person who is 
going along on his path. Read Job xxxi : 4. 

What else does he compass besides his path ? 

It is as if God goes all around our bed at night and looks on 
us from everv side. 



1G2 THE SENIOR YEAR; 

Is it only one path or more that God is acquainted 
with? 

Men are most tempted to sin when on a path or journey 
away from home, because the restraints of relatives and neigh- 
bors are not present, or when in secret, as in a bed-chamber, 
they think they are not seen by any human eye. But when 
we go out on our path from home, when we are on a jour- 
ney among strangers, when we lie down at night, when we are 
in the most secret place, God sees and knows all our ways. 

What other thing does the fourth verse say God knows ? 

Can you give any other passage of S'cripture which 
proves that God notices every word of our speech ? 

How wonderful this is ! How quickly the wisest man is 
bewildered if he tries to hear what several different persons are 
saying at the same time ! But God does 'not grow confused 
by hearing at once every word of every person in the whole 
world. 

What does 4 knowest it altogether ' mean ? 

Although God knows all things, he knows each thing ex- 
actly : he knows the whole of itand the parts of it clearly and 
thoroughly. Not one word on your tongue but he knows it 
fully and without mistake. 

What is the meaning of c beset me ' ? 

If any one of us should try to get away from God, wherever 
he might go God would still be near him, as if he were a per- 
son determined to make us feel that he was keeping watch 
of us. 

What is meant by the figure 4 laid thine hand upon 
me'? 

God is represented as a man through these verses ; and he 
not onty keeps close to us, but is so near that he can lay his 
hand on us. 

4 Man is no more able to withdraw himself from the presence 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 163 

of God than he is to reach a place where the heavens are not 
over him.' 

4 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me' : too wonderful for 
me to know or too wonderful for me to understand ? Read 
Job xlii : 3. 

What is meant by saying such knowledge ' is high ' ? 
Answer. It knows great and high things. 

What does ' I can not attain unto it ' mean ? Answer. 
My mind is so little that I can not reach up to it. 

A man's little mind can not even comprehend what God's 
great and high knowledge is. i 1 can not admire it enough, 
for I can not really conceive of it as it is.' 

What is the proper and plain answer to the two questions of 
the seventh verse ? Read too Jeremiah xxiii : 24. 

Does 'thy Spirit' mean thy Holy Spirit or spiritual 
life and power ? 

Explain 'go from thy Spirit' and 'flee from thy 
presence.' 

See the difference between ' go ' and 4 flee.' First he thinks 
of going slowly, as if he might in a long time get away from 
the place where God's Spirit is. Then he thinks of fleeing, as 
if with his utmost speed he could not get beyond God's pre- 
sence. 

Who once tried to flee from God's presence ? Read 
Genesis iii : 8 and Jonah i : 3, 4. 
In the eighth verse, in what direction does David suppose he 
might go first to escape God's presence ? 

In what direction does he next suppose he might go ? 

By make my bed in hell we suppose David means, if I should 
go to the very bottom of hell and try to cover myself with its 
darkness, I would find thee there. Read Job xxvi : 6 and 
Proverbs xv : 11. 

Is God present in hell itself? 

How is God differently present in heaven and in hell ? 



164 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Are the inhabitants of hell glad to have him present ? 
Are the inhabitants of heaven ever sorry that he is 
present ? 

' Should any one murder himself to end his troubles, to es- 
cape the remorse of conscience or the consequence of his sins, 
he must be disappointed.' He would then still be in God's 
presence. 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH PSALM. 

9. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts 
of the sea ; 

10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold 
me. 

11. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall 
be light about me. 

12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; but the night shineth as the 
day : the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 

13. For thou hast possessed my reins : thou hast covered me in my mo- 
ther's womb. 

14. I will praise thee ; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made : mar- 
vellous are thy works ; and that my soul knoweth right well. 

15. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, 
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 

16. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect ; and in thy 
book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, 
when as yet there was none of them. 

How wonderfully David shows in this psalm God's wonder- 
ful omnipresence ! In the eighth verse, he supposes himself to 
mount up to the very height of heaven and to go down so as to 
lay his bed on the very bottom of hell, and there in heaven and 
in hell, before he reaches the place, God is. 

In what other direction, in the ninth verse, does he suppose 
he may escape God ? 

What are ; the wings of the morning ' ? Ansicer. The 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 165 

beams of the morning light, which spread out like out- 
stretched wings. 

What sea did David mean when he wrote, 4 the utter- 
most parts of the sea ' ? 

If we think that ' the great sea ' was west of Palestine, and 
the uttermost parts of the sea were the very furthest end of 
the world, what a bea-utiful description this verse is : If I could 
take the wings of the morning light in the distant east, and as 
fast as light flies could fly to the furthest west, to the utter- 
most bounds of the sea, even there I could not escape thee.' 

What does the tenth verse say God will be there, even in 
the uttermost parts of the sea, to do ? 

Does 'thy hand lead me' show that David thinks 
God is friendly to him, although he knows him so well ? 

See in Amos ix : 2-4 the opposite description of God' s angry 
omnipresence. 

Is there any meaning in speaking of c thy right hand ' 
after speaking of ' thy hand ' ? 

The right hand is the strong hand ; the left hand might lead, 
but the right hand would be used to hold up. Go where we 
will, up to heaven, down to hell, out to the ends of the earth, 
our God is there to lead us and to hold us up if we are his. 

The same thing which should keep us from sin should en- 
courage us to do right ; that is, the thought that we are never 
out of the sight and the protection of God. 

In what other way now does David suppose, in the eleventh 
verse, that he might escape from God's knowledge ? 

Show the meaning of ' surely the darkness shall cover 
me 7 ? 

Does ' even the night shall be light about me ' mean 
that it seemed so to David or was so to God ? 
What is the force of \ Yea ' in the next verse ? Answer. He 
thinks again what he has said, and says, Yes, indeed, or, Yes, 
it is truly so. 



16G THE SENIOR YEAK. 

Why can not darkness hide from God ? Answer. 
Because God's mind does not see through bodily eyes 
like ours. 

Our eyes are so made that we can not see without light, and 
when there is no light it is dark to us ; but God's eyes could 
see before any sun or star was created. 

Can the night really shine as the day ? 

God might have made our eyes so that the night would seem 
as light as day to us ; just as the owl can see better by night 
than by day, or just as we can see better in a shaded room 
than in looking at the sun. God can see through the darkest 
darkness, just as he can look into the brightest sun. 

Does the last of the verse mean that darkness and 
light are both alike to God so far as his knowledge of 
them is concerned, or that he does not see any differ- 
ence in darkness and light ? 

God's mind sees through every thing. Whichever way it 
turns it drives darkness and ignorance away, as the sun, wher- 
ever it shines, drives darkness away. 

The thirteenth verse shows how God knows all secret things 
and open things : ' Thou hast possessed my reins ' means the 
same as 4 Thou hast held my heart in thy hand.' 

Read the last part of the thirteenth verse with the emphasis 
on Thou — Thou hast covered me, etc. It means, Before my 
mother gave me birth, thou didst prepare me to be born. 

What reasons does he give, in the fourteenth verse, for prais- 
ing God ? 

Show how the body and mind are wonderfully made; 

Think how curiously the hand is made to do so many things 
with, the arm to turn in so many directions, the eye to see 
with, the joints of the bones to walk or run or stand or sit or 
lie or climb with, the blood and skin and heart and breath, the 
mind to remember and imagine and hope and feel with ! 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 167 

Show how they are fearfully made. 

Think how little a thing will kill the body, stop the heart 
from beating, or let out the blood. Think how easily the eye 
may be destroyed or the body made sick. 

What does ' marvellous ' mean ? 
What works does David mean are marvellous — his 
works in making the body, or his works throughout the 
world ? Psalm xl : 5. 

Which works does the soul know better, the works of 
the world or of the body and mind ? 
What is meant by * my substance ' ? Answer. The frame- 
work of my body. 

This curious frame-work of the body, which begins before 
we are born, God himself wisely makes. Even before we are 
born, and after we turn back to dust in the grave, God knows 
us and sees us. 

What does ' curiously wrought' mean ? Answer. Delicately 
and wonderfully joined and jointed together. 

This curious body, in limbs and sinews and joints, in face 
and hands and feet, in brains and spirit, in muscles and veins 
and* nerves, God himself made, and he makes every single 
body without a single mistake, as if, like a workman, he had a 
shop in the lowest parts of the earth, where he fitted them to- 
gether. Read Isaiah lxiv : 8 and Job x : 8, 9, and 10. 

What does 4 imperfect ' mean ? 

Even before this curious frame-work began to be formed in 
God's work-shop, God had the pattern in his mind. He knew 
just how I would look as a full-grown man as well as if I was 
then full-grown. 

What book is meant by 'thy book' ? Answer. As a 
workman knows distinctly all the parts of a machine by 
writing them in a book, so God knew all the members 
of my body which was to be. 



168 % THE SENIOIl YEAR. 

Explain ' which in continuance were fashioned.' An- 
swer. Which were made one after the other. 

4 None of them' : none of what ? 

How did God make the body at the first? Read 
Genesis ii : 7 and iii : 20. 

How wonderful is the far-reaching knowledge of God ! How 
wonderful is his presence everywhere ! High in heaven, deep 
in hell, at the uttermost part of the world, in the blackest 
darkness, he is present to see and to know all things. As he 
made us so curiously and fearfully, and knew our body and 
spirit and our whole life before we were born, we can never 
escape his presence by going out of this world, or by hiding 
ourselves in this world, or by trying to forget that there is a 
God. The only thing for us to do, if we would be happy, is 
to make friends with him. 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH PSALM. 

17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God ! how great is 
the sum of them ! 

18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand : 
when I awake, I am still with thee. 

19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God : depart from me, there 
fore, ye bloody men. 

20. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy 
name in vain. 

21. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee ? and am not I grieved 
with those that rise up against thee ? 

22. I hate them with perfect hatred : I count them mine enemies. 

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart : try me, and know my 
thoughts : 

24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way 
everlasting. 

David has spoken in this psalm so far of God's wonderful 
knowledge and of his wonderful presence everywhere. Now 
he thinks of the thoughts which are in God's mind. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 169 

Does David mean by 'thy thoughts' thy thoughts about 
myself, or thy thoughts about the whole world ? 

If God is our enemy, can it be precious to us to think 
of his thoughts about us ? 

What is the meaning of * the sum of them ' ? Read 
Psalm xl : 5. 
How does he show, in the eighteenth verse, ' how great the 
sum of them is ' ? 

'The Psalmist once more bursts forth into devout astonish- 
ment as he contrasts himself — so entirely dependent on God — 
with the Almighty.' 

'When I awake' : it seems as if David, in thinking of God's 
thoughts at night, had fallen asleep, and in the morning he 
still finds the same good, all-knowing God watching over him. 

Explain c I am still with thee,' 

What other morning-thought of David is like this ? 
See Psalm iii : 5. 
What reason is there from God's presence everywhere why 
he will slay the wicked ? 

Does this mean that he will slay them so soon as they 
become wicked ? 

4 Surely, God, as nothing good or bad escapes thy know- 
ledge, though the wicked seem now to be prosperous, thou 
wilt slay the wicked in thine own time.' 

Because God will slay the wicked, what does David, 
therefore, say to the wicked ? 

W^hom does he mean by ' ye bloody men ' ? 
As David himself was a man of war, he had found men even 
among his own people who were cruel and revengeful. See 
how one bloody man was one of his officers at one time in 
I. Kings ii : 5. 

If David was at that time charged with conspiring to kill 
Saul, he probably meant, c Surely, thou wilt take care of those 
false and bloody witnesses against me.' 

What two things do these wicked and bloody men do ? 



170 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Why does God have special dislike to those who take 
his name in vain ? 

Prove that every one that takes God's name in vain 
is God's enemy. 
Is it right for David to hate those that hate God ? 

What kind of feeling does the last part of the verse 
show that he feels against such persons ? 

David is so lifted up and overwhelmed with feelings of admi- 
ration toward so marvellous a God, that he wishes to separate 
himself entirely from those who have fallen so low as actually 
to hate God. 

But what kind of hatred does the next verse show that he 
has toward them ? 

Is this hatred such that he would be sorry to have 
them become the friends of God ? 

Does a malicious and revengeful hatred ever wish to 
have an enemy become a friend ? 

Whom does David count these persons to be ? 

Put the emphasis on the word mine : They are thine enemies,, 
and I count them mine enemies. David loves and admires 
God as a friend : what God loves he loves, what God hates he 
hates. Read II. Chronicles xix : 2. 

There are two ways of loving and two ways of hating bad 
people. One way of loving is to love a bad person and all ho 
does ; and another way is to love his happiness, so as to try 
to get him to leave the wrong that he does. One way of hat- 
ing is to hate a bad person spitefully, so that we never wish to 
see any good come to him, even though he should repent and 
try to be good ; and another way is to hate the wicked man for 
his wickedness, and be glad to have him stop being wicked. 
We ought to hate murderers and liars and swearers, for God 
hates them, and we ought to love these same men when they 
become good, for God then loves them. 

What does David ask God to search him for, in the last 
verse ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 171 

"Would any one who hates others spitefully wish God 
to know his heart ? 

What is the meaning of ' try me ' ? 

David must think he is innocent, or else that God pardons 
all his sins. For, unless he believed so, he would not ask that 
God, whose minute knowledge and presence everywhere he has 
been praising, to search and know his feelings and thoughts. 

What did David wish God to see ? 

Do you think he expected God to find or not to find 
in him any wicked way ? 

What is i the way everlasting ' ? 

When David asks that God will see if there is any wicked way 
in him, and then asks that he will lead him in the way everlast- 
ing, he really says that he wishes to know and to forsake every 
wicked way so that he may be led into the way everlasting. 

What is the subject of the whole psalm ? 

A guilty man does not like the thought of the true God. If he 
should be admitted into heaven, he could not endure the glorious 
holiness of God. The grave can not place him at a distance from 
his righteous judge. A God of justice is present even in hell : 
were it possible for him to fly with the velocity of the sun- 
beams through the immensity of space, he would still be in 
the presence of an offended God. 

And so a true disciple of God loves the thought of God, and 
he cannot be removed from God. Should the persecutor's 
cruelty take away his life, his soul will the sooner ascend into 
the presence of his Father and Friend. The grave cannot sepa- 
rate him from his Saviour's love : even in the place of torment 
the presence and love of God would prevent his feeling misery ; 
no dungeon, cavern or mine, however dark or deep, can shut 
him out from his God. 



172 THE SENIOR YEAR. 



THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH PSALM. 

1. Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens : Praise 
him in the heights. 

2. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. 

3. Praise ye him, sun and moon : praise him, all ye stars of light. 

4. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the 
heavens. 

5. Let them praise the name of the Lord : for he commanded, and they 
were created. 

6. He hath also stablished them for ever and ever : he hath made a de- 
cree which shall not pass. 

This is a jubilant song of praise to God. The psalmist's 
heart goes out to all things in heaven above and earth beneath, 
calling to them to sing with him the praise of God. "We do 
not know who is the psalmist, but his heart was full of rap- 
ture at the thought of God and of his universal praise. 

The psalm is divided into two parts. The first part, in the 
first six verses, calls on all things in heaven to praise God ; 
the second part, in the next six verses, calls on all things in 
the earth to praise him. And at the end of the psalm both 
are united with God's people in praise, in the last two verses. 

What are the two parts of the psalm ? 

What same words of praise begin and end the psalm ? 

The words 4 Praise ye the Lord' begin and end all the last 
five psalms in the book of Psalms. In Hebrew this sentence 
is one single word, the word Hallelujah. Hal-le-lu, praise ye, 
Jah, (pronounced Yah,) a shorter word for Jehovah — Praise ye 
Jah, or Praise ye Jehovah. 

How many psalms begin and end in the same way ? 
Does ''from the heavens,' in the first verse, mean the same 
as ' praise him, ye heavens,' in the fourth verse ? 

Who are to praise him from the heavens ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 173 

What is the difference between 'from the heavens ' 
and ' in the heights ' ? 

Does 'heavens' mean the heaven of the sun and sky 
and stars, or the heaven of the spiritual life ? 

Does 'heights' mean the heights of the firmament, or 
the heights of glory in heavenly life ? 
To which heavens do 'all his angels' and 'all his hosts,' of 
the second verse, belong ? 

To which heavens do ' sun and moon ' and ' all the stars of 
light,' of the third verse, belong ? 

To which heights do the things of the second and third verses 
belong ? 

What are angels ? 

Give the names of different kinds of angels. 
How many things can you find which angels do ?* 
What are the hosts of God ?f 

What different kinds of hosts are there ? See three 
different kinds in Exodus xii : 41 ; Genesis ii : 1 ; Luke 
ii : 13 ; and Job xxxviii : 7. 

Can you think of any way in which the sun and 
moon and stars offer different praise to God ? 

The sun, in the strength and fulness of his light, shows the 
power and fulness of God ; the moon, in her changes and 
milder radiance, shows the different forms and the tenderness of 
God's goodness ; the stars, in their endless variety and multi- 
tude, show the infinite variety and unnumbered multitudes of 
God's good acts. 

What a beautiful, poetical expression for bright or shining 
stars is ' stars of light ' ! 

* We are told in these places : Genesis iii : 24 ; xix : 1 ; xxii : 11 ; Judges 
vi : 11, 12 ; II. Samuel xxiv : 16 ; I. Kings xix : 5 ; I. Chronicles xxi : 12 ; Psalms 
xxxiv : 7 ; Isaiah vi : 3 ; Luke ii : 13 ; Matthew xviii : 10 ; Mark viii : 38 ; Luke 
xv : 10 ; xvi : 22 ; xxii : 43 ; Matthew xxviii : 2 ; John xx : 12 ; Acts v : ly ; 
xii : 23 ; vii : 53 ; Galatians iii : 19 ; Hebrews ii : 2 ; I. Peter i : 12 ; Matthew 
xxiv : 31 ; Revelation v : 2 and 11 ; vii : 11 ; xii : 7 ; xxi : 12. 

t Look at Genesis xxxii:42; Daniel vii : 10 ; I. Kings xxii : 19 ; Psalm 
I viii : 17 ; Hebrews xii : 22 ; Deuteroi omy xxxiii : 2 : Revelation v : 11. 



174 THE SENIOR YEAB. 

How is ' heaven of heavens' different from 'heavens' ? 

Is there one heaven above another ? Read II. Corin- 
thians xii : 2. 

We speak of at least three heavens : first, the heaven of the 
air, where the birds fly, the winds blow, and the showers are 
formed ; secondly, the heaven of the firmament, in which the 
heavenly lights seem to be ; thirdly, the heaven of spiritual 
beings, where are the angels and the blessed, and where God's 
dwelling is. 

' The heaven of heavens is the highest heaven, as the song 
of songs is the most excellent song, the God of gods the great- 
est of the gods, the Lord of lords the most powerful of lords.' 

What is me?.nt by the 'waters that be above the 
heavens ' ? See Genesis i : 7. 

What do the heavens say in praising God ? See 
Psalm xix : 1, 2. 

In the heavens of matter, we may say that the clouds arc in 
a lower heaven, the moon and sun and the planets in a higher 
heaven, and the fixed stars in a higher heaven still. And if 
we could rise high enough away from the earth, we should see 
a higher heaven still. 

In the heavens of spirit we know that angels and archangels, 
cherubim and seraphim, and redeemed men are there, and per- 
haps in different ranks of heavenly society. They are highest 
and nearest God, we suppose, who are most like him. 

Does 'Let them praise' mean 'Permit them to praise' or 
' They should praise the name of the Lord ' ? 

What is the reason why they should praise ? 
What other reason is given, in the sixth verse, why all these 
things should praise God ? 

Does this mean that the sun and moon and stars will 
last for ever ? 

So far as the power of any other being to disturb them as 
God has fixed them is concerned, they will last for ever. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 1 75 

4 He hath made a decree ' : a decree in respect to 
what? 

What is a i decree ' ? 

"What is a 'decree that shall not pass 1 ? Read Job 
xxxviii : 10-12 ; Jeremiah v : 22. 

Why is our creation a reason that we should praise 
God ? 

Why is his unchangeable decree a reason for praising 
him? 



$oxtv-fomih Sunbiw, 

THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-EIGHTH PSALM. 

7. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps : 

8. Fire, and hail ; snow, and vapors ; stormy wind fulfilling his word : 

9. Mountains, and all hills ; fruitful trees, and all cedars : 

10. Beasts, and all cattle ; creeping things, and flying fowl : 

11. Kings of the earth, and all people ; princes, and all judges of the 
earth : 

12. Both young men, and maidens ; old men, and children : 

13. Let them praise the name of the Lord : for his name alone is excel- 
lent ; his glory is above the earth and heaven. 

14. He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints ; 
even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the 
Lord. 

What things are called to praise God in the second part of 
the psalm ? 

How many things in the earth are mentioned in the 
rest of the psalm ? 

What is meant by ' dragons ' and ' deeps' ? 

The dragons mean, no doubt, the monsters of the deep. 
4 Neither is it against reason that praise should be brought out 
of the sea, which is filled with so many wonders.' - 

All the things mentioned in the eighth yerse except 'fire' 
are things of the air : do you think the fire of the air, the light- 
ning, is meant ? 



176 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

What do these things show in respect to God ? 
4 Fire' shows God's mysterious power, by which he keeps 
it kindling and burning and flaming upward ; 4 hail ' shows 
God's destructive power, by which he pours down his bullets 
from the skies ; 'snow' shows the beauty of God's knowledge 
and skill in its curious flakes ; 'vapor' or smoke, his loving- 
kindness in removing from us what is not needed and what is 
disagreeable to us ; 4 stormy wind fulfilling God's word ' shows 
that God's hand can hold every unmanageable thing. Notice 
that the contrary things are mentioned together : the hot fire 
and the cold hail,' fire rising upward, hail falling downward; 
the white snow and foggy vapor or dark smoke, the snow fall- 
ing to cover the earth, the vapor rising from the earth's surface. 
And contrary to all these is the wind, for it blows in storms 
through the air and interferes with fire and hail, snow and 
vapor. 

Explain, now, the curious ways in which these things 
worship God. 

'The stormy wind, which, with all its wild impetuosity, 
apparently obeys no law, still executes the commands of God 
not less than the angels who do his commandments, hearken- 
ing unto the voice of his word/ 

What class of things are called on to praise God in 
the ninth verse ? 

Mountains and hills lift themselves up in majesty in praise 
of the Creator. 

Fruitful trees are the same as fruit-trees in contrast with 
forest trees like the cedars. 

What class of things is mentioned in verse ten ? 
How many kinds of animals ? 
How do they show God's praise ? 
They show his kindness in the wonderful skill with which 
they are made, in the instincts by which they live, and in provid- 
ing them for man's food. 

What class of creatures is mentioned in verse eleven ? 
What contrast in the first part of the verse ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 177 

Kings are named as at the head of men, and ' all people ' as 
the great masses of mankind. 

How do ' princes and all judges of the earth' differ 
from 4 kings and all people ' ? 

Into what classes are 'all people' divided in the twelfth verse ? 

1 The old, in whose long life is contained a proof of the divine 
goodness, and the young, whose very freshness and vigor are 
themselves a praise of God.' 

Why in the fifth and thirteenth verses is it said, ' Let them 
praise the name of the Lord' and not Let them praise the 
Lord? 

A good man's name means a good man's reputation or a 
good man's honor. If you bring his name into contempt, you 
bring him into contempt ; if you praise and honor his name, 
you praise and honor him. * If you take God's name in vain, 
you treat God as if he were a trifle or a nothing. If you praise 
his name and honor it, }^ou praise and honor him. 

What is the reason given in the fifth verse why all heavenly 
things should praise God ? 

What is the reason, in the thirteenth verse, why all 
earthly things should praise him ? 
What does * excellent ' mean ? 

1 His name alone is excellent' : but is no other name 
than his excellent ? 

Does 'his glory' mean the glory of his name as it is 
known among men, or the glory of his nature and cha- 
racter without reference to any created thing ? 
W hat two things is his glory ' above ' ? 

It is as if the psalmist had written, Because this glory is 
above both the earth and the heavens, therefore let all the 
creatures and things in the earth, all creatures and things in 
the heavens, praise and magnify him. 

What is meant by c the horn of his people ' ? 

The horn in many animals, as in the deer, is a mark of their 
strength and of their beauty. To pull down their horn into the 



178 THE SENIOR YEAH. 

dust (see Job xvi : 15) is to degrade their strength and beauty. 
To lift up or exalt their horn is to show how strong and beau- 
tiful they are. 

How does God exalt the horn of his people ? 

Does ' the praise of all his saints ' mean that his praise 
is the horn, that is, the strength and beauty of his 
people ? 

What does the rest of the verse show that he means 
by his saints ? 

How does God show that his saints are his own good 
people, dear to him ? 

What is the meaning of * Praise ye the Lord ' ? 

All angels, of whatever rank, all his hosts, with one accord, 
/rom the heavens and in the heights, sun at noon, moon at 
midnight, stars so bright — the visible hosts of the sky, as the 
angels are the invisible host — the heaven of heavens, where is 
the orbit of the planet, the path of the comet, and the track of 
every star, waters above the heavens, where the clouds sail, 
unite ye all in one song of praise, for he commanded and you 
were created. Ye sea monsters from the earth, ye floods in 
which they swim, ye heat and cold, white snow and dark 
smoke, strong wind that amid apparent anarchy doest his will, 
mountains in towering height, and lowly hills diversifying the 
earth, ye palm and pomegranate fruit-trees, ye firs and pines, 
cedars of every kind, wild beasts and tame, reptiles and fowls 
of every wing, small as the wren, majestic as the eagle, young 
men in your strength, maidens in your beaut}^, old men with 
lips of wisdom, children who lisp his praise, join in one song of 
praise, for in your life and beauty and fruit the excellent 
name of God is seen. Things in heaven and things in earth, 
join ye, for his glory is above doth earth and heaven. And to 
his loving people, dear to him, God is the praise of all his 
saints. 

Here is 'universal nature at worship, harping on ten thou- 
sand harps her perpetual psalm.' 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 179 

ISAIAH'S INVITATION TO THE HUNGRY AND 
THIRSTY SOUL. 

ISAIAH. 

CHAPTER LV. 

1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath 
no money ; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without 
money and without price. 

2. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your 
labor for that which satisfieth not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat 
ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 

3. Incline your ear, and come unto me : hear, and your soul shall live ; 
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies 
of David. 

4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and 
commander to the people. 

5. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that 
knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for 
the Holy One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee. 

6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he 
is near. 

"Who was Isaiah ? Read Isaiah (pronounced I-zay'-yah) i : 1 
and xxxviii : 1. 

Isaiah was the greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament. 
He lived to be an ofd man, and he probably lived at Jerusalem, 
about two hundred and fifty years after Solomon dedicated the 
temple. 

How many kings ruled in Jerusalem while Isaiah 
lived ? Read Isaiah i : 1. 

What foreign king came with an army to take Jeru- 
salem while Isaiah was in Jerusalem ? Compare II. 
Kings xviii : 13 with xix : 5. 
Show that what Isaiah offers in this chapter is what God of- 
fers to us ? 

What does the first word ' Ho ' mean ? 

4 Ho ' means two things : first, it is a call to stop a person, 
as when, if you wish a person going by to stop, you call out, 



180 THE SENIOR YEAH. 

' Ho, sir ! ho there V Secondly, it shows that you have some- 
thing important to say to him : ' Ho, sir ! I have something 
important to say to you.' 

To whom is it that Isaiah calls ? 

What is the important thing that he has to say to him ? 
What kind of thirst is this ? Read Psalms xlii : 2, 
lxiii : 1. 

What waters are meant ? Kead John iv : 13, 14. 
1 And he that hath no money' : is water ever sold in 
the East ? 
The thirsty traveller passing by, if he was poor, might think 
he. had no money to buy the water and not turn aside to see 
until he heard, ' Come ye, he that hath no money.' 1 

Can this water be bought with money ? Read Acts 
viii : 18-20. 

No man is so rich that he can buy forgiveness and happiness 
from God, and no man is so poor that he cannot have it from 
God if he will 4 come ' for it. 

4 Buy and eat' : how does the figure of eating repre- 
sent the desire of the soul ? 

What besides water may he buy ? 

Wine and milk were luxuries of that land of grapes and 
flocks. They strengthened the weak body as well as re- 
freshed it. 

How beautiful is this invitation : as if the prophet said : 
Come, buy ; these are luxuries worth a price, a high price to 
any one fainting with hunger and thirst. But come, I will sell 
them to you for nothing. 

What word of the invitation is repeated three times 
over ? 

See how free the invitation is made. God speaks to us. He 
says : Come, come, come. He says : Ho, you thirsty one ! if 
you are poor, come. Ho, every one, if you are hungry as well 
as thirsty, come, eat and drink : yes, you shall have the best. 
Come. Ho, every one ! do not wait for money and do not ask 
the price. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. ] 81 

What is always our Saviour's invitation to the blessings 
of his kingdom ? Learn and repeat Revelation xxii : 17. 

As free as a flowing fountain God offers these blessings to 
you. If you are humble enough to take them as a gift, you 
can have them ; if you are so proud that you cannot take them 
as a gift, you cannot have them. 

Does ' spend money for that which is no bread ' mean that 
they think it is not bread when they buy it ? 

Can you name any of the things which men labor for 
and spend money for, and which, after all, do not satisfy 
them? 

Explain l Hearken diligently.' 
* Eat ye that which is good ' : good for what ? 

What is meant by the i fatness ' of the soul ? 

The soul shall not be kept simply from starvation, but shall 
be more than satisfied with good things. Read Psalm xxxvi : 8. 

4 Incline your ear ' : is this figure of speech any stronger 
than 'hearken diligently' ? 

1 Come unto me ' : who is meant by me f 
What besides listening is meant by ' hear and your 
soul shall live ' ? 
What is a covenant ? 

What are 'the sure mercies of David'? Answer. 
The sure favors promised to David. 

How are these sure favors of David an everlasting 
covenant ? 
As God promised that some one of David's children and 
grandchildren and descendants should be always king on his 
throne, it would be an everlasting covenant with. David ; and 
God promises that the favors promised on his side of the cove- 
nant should be sure. And every one who inclined his ear unto 
God, and loved and obeyed him, should have the favors which 
God promised him as surely as David's descendants would 
have God's covenant to David fulfilled. This would be the 
strongest kind of a promise to a Jew, who believed that what 
God promised to David could not fail. 



182 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

- 
' Behold, I have given Mm for a witness ' : who is meant by 
him ? Answer. David or David's son on his throne. 

Who was King David's greatest son that sat on his 
throne ? 

How was David or David's son a witness to the peo- 
ple ? Read John xviii : 37 ; Revelation i : 5. 

How was David or David's son a leader and com- 
mander to the people ? 
Who is meant by 4 thou ' in the fifth verse ? Answer, Isaiah 
is probably thinking of David's Son, the Messiah, and speaks 
to liim. 

What one nation among the nations of the world had 
God called to be his own ? 

What is meant, then, by sa}nng that the Messiah 
shall call a nation that he knew not ? 
Explain ' nations that know not thee.' 
Do you know what nations of the world since that 
time have outwardly accepted Jesus as Saviour ? 

What is the reason given in the rest of the verse why 
all nations will run unto him ? 

It is as if it read in this way : 'Nations that knew not thee 
shall run unto thee, because the Lord thy God shall glorify 
thee.' 

How has God glorified his Son Jesus among the na- 
tions of the world ? 
Who is spoken to in ' Seek ye the Lord' ? 

What is meant by seeking the Lord ? 
If a king who had great riches and great pleasures and great 
possessions was known to be ready to give them away to every- 
one who came to ask him, and a messenger should come say- 
ing, l Seek ye the king,' we would understand him to mean, 
Seek to obtain the good things which the king has to give. 

When are we to seek him ? 

Does this mean that there will be a time when we 
may not find him if we do seek ? 

How are we to seek him in order to find him ? Read 
Jeremiah xxix : 13. 



Til ft SJ5NIOK YXAll. 183 

Explain 4 call ye upon him.' 

There is no one, not even a child, who cannot do so simple 
a thing as to call upon God. 

When are you to call on him in order to have him 
hear you ? 

How do we know that he will hear us if we call ? 
Head Matthew vii : 7, 8, and 11 ; Romans x : 13. 

When is God especially near us to hear us ? 



ISAIAH'S INVITATION. 
ISAIAH. 

CHAPTER LV. 

7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : 
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and 
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 

8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my 
ways, saith the Lord. 

9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher 
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow, from heaven, and re- 
turneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and 

• bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater ; 

11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth : it shall not 
return unto me void ; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it 
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

12. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forthwith peace : the moun- 
tains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the 
trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the 
brier shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it shall be to the Lord for a 
name, for an everlasting sign, thai shall not be cut off. 

Repeat the last verse of the last lesson. 

Who — does the seventh verse show — is to do this ? 



184 THE SEXIOll YEAR. 

What is meant by 'his way' ? 

Why will not God hear a wicked man who calls, but 
who does not forsake his way ? 
Explain 'unrighteous man.' 
What is meant by 'his thoughts' ? 

' His thoughts' means the evil things that he is thinking of, 
the evil plans of life about which all his thoughts cluster. 

Can any thought or plan of life which has not any 
thought of God in it be right ? 

Show from Isaiah liii : 6 why he must return unto 
the Lord. 

When you do not love a person, your thoughts go far away 
from him ; and when you begin to love him again, your thoughts 
return unto him. 

Show from the sixth and seventh verses what three 
things a person who is seeking the Lord must do to 
have God's mercy given him. 

Whose God is meant by ' our God ' ? 
What does*' our God' promise to do if we call upon 
him, forsake our ways, and return unto him ? 

What word in the verse shows the freeness and ful- 
ness of his promise ? 
Is the eighth verse a reason why he will abundantly pardon 
or why the wicked should forsake his ways and the unrighte- 
ous man his thoughts ? 

God's thoughts are different from the unrighteous man's . 
thoughts, and his ways differ from the ways of the wicked. 
God is right and they are wrong ; and that is a good reason 
why they should forsake their evil ways and return unto him. 
God's thoughts and ways are different from man's thoughts 
and ways in respect to far don. It is hard for men to pardon, 
especially if any one has done the wrong over and over again ; 
but it is easy for God to pardon, no matter if the crime has 
been many times repeated, if the sinner is really sorry. 

How is the greatness of the difference between God's ways 
and man's ways shown ? 



THE SEX lOU YEAR. 185 

The distance from heaven to earth is the greatest that we 
can think of, and the difference between God's plans for man 
and man's plans for himself is greater than man can compre- 
hend, therefore man ought to believe that God's plan for him 
is better than his own plan for himself. 

What is the meaning of ' For' in the tenth verse ? Answer. 
The tenth and eleventh verses are a reason why God will have 
mercy and abundantly pardon. I will certainly pardon such 
a wicked man who repents, for my word shall be as sure as 
the rain is sure to make the seed grow. 

What two things does he use to show the certainty 
of his word ? 

Rain never falls in vain : it makes the seed grow and makes 
the earth green and beautiful. The snow helps : it covers the 
plants in the winter and keeps them warm, it melts into the 
streams on the hill-tops and mountain-sides in the spring-time. 

What three things do the rain and snow certainly do 
to the earth ? 

What two things do they certainly make the earth 
do? 
What is it that is like the rain and snow ? 

How is it like it in coming down from heaven ? 

How is it like it in not returning thither ? 

What is the meaning of c void ' ? 

How is it like the rain and snow in what it accom- 
plishes ? 

In what shall it prosper ? Read Matthew xxiv : 35. 

The rain does not always do what man thinks it is going to 
do, or what he thinks it should do ; but it does what God sent 
it to do. God's word does w T hat God sent it to do, even though 
it does not seem to accomplish what we think it ought to ac- 
complish, and it prospers, even though it does not seem to us 
to prosper at all. 

How different are the forms of rain — in the fine dew, the 
few drops from a passing cloud, the quick shower, the heavy 
storm, the long and pouring floods — gently falling, driven by the 



186 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

wind, shaken by thunder from the clouds — coming when 3 r ou 
think it will not rain, and coming not when you think it will 
rain. So God's word, how different are its forms : like the dew, 
at morning and evening prayers, a few words of Scripture, a 
passing exhortation, preached in different ways, God's spirit 
coming when you do not expect it, and the services of God's 
house broken up when you did not expect them to be. But 
the result is sure : souls are as surely connected by God's 
word as the harvest comes every year from the rain. 

But what kind of soil must there be to have the rain 
make the plants grow ? 

Does God mean to say to you that you shall as cer- 
tainly be pardoned as the rain shall fall ? 
Is the twelfth verse a description of the joyfulness of a single 
soul forgiven or of the whole world when it is forgiven ? 

Show from the Scriptures that joy and peace are two 

results of being forgiven ? Bead Romans v : 1, 2, and 

Galatians v : 22. 

What a beautiful, poetic description is the rest of this verse. 

And it is true, when one is converted, he goes out with joy in 

his heart. He is led forth on his daily duties with peace in his 

soul. As he looks out on mountains and hills, they seem to 

be singing the praise of God, and all the trees seem ready to 

clap their hands with delight. 

Do you think the thirteenth verse a description of a convert- 
ed soul or of the world when converted ? 

The fir-tree is a kind of evergreen, and the meaning is that 
there will be a change in man's heart as great as if in the world 
the wild and tangled thorn-bushes should cease to grow and 
the beautiful evergreen firs should come up in their stead. 

And so of the brier and the myrtle. The myrtle is a shade- 
tree, eight or ten feet high, thick and shrub-like, and with 
oval leaves and small, pale flowers. And the meaning is, that 
when the wicked forsakes his ways and the unrighteous man 
his thoughts, and they are pardoned, the change is as great 
as if a field overrun with briers should at once become thick- 
set with myrtles. . 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 187 

What are the thorns and briers in the wicked man's 
heart ? Read Galatians v : 19-21. 

What are the fir-trees and the myrtle-trees ? Read 
Galatians v : 22-24. 

i And it shall be to the Lord for a name' : what shall 
be to the Lord for a name ? Answer. This whole work 
of pardoning the wicked and the unrighteous man. 
How shall it be to him for a name ? 
It shall be to him i for an everlasting sign ' : a sign of 
what ? Answer. A sign or pledge that he is true to 
his word as a God who offers freely to pardon. 

How shall it be to him 4 an everlasting sign that shall 
not be cut off ' ? 
If God is a God so true to his word, and has made sucjh. pro- 
mises to pardon as this chapter contains, is there any possible 
reason why you should not come and be pardoned ? 

Is it possible that when it says, l Ho, every one, come, come 
ye ; yea, come ;' l Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un- 
righteous man his thoughts ' — is it possible that the promise is 
not intended for you t 



fioxiu-mbmih Sunbair. 

JEREMIAH'S ADDRESS ON KEEPING THE SABBATH. 
JEREMIAH. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

19. Thus said the Lord unto me; Go and stand in the gate of tne 
children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the 
which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem ; 

20. And say unto them , Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of 
Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in 
by these gates : 

21. Thus saith the Lord ; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden 
on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem ; 

22. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, 
neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded 
your fathers. 

23. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck 
stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. 



188 THE SENIOR YEAH. 

24. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the 
Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath 
day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein ; 

25. Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes 
sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, 
and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem : and 
this city shall remain for ever. 

26. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places 
about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and 
from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and 
sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, 
unto the house of the Lord. 

27. But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and 
not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the 
sabbath day ; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall de- 
vour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. 

Who was Jeremiah ? Read Jeremiah i : 1-3.- 

Jeremiah lived about a hundred years after Isaiah lived. 
The city of An-a-thoth was about three miles from Jerusalem, 
and he lived very much in Jerusalem. While he was a pro- 
phet, King Nebuchadnezzar and his army from Babylon cap- 
tured Jerusalem, and burned with ^fire the beautiful temple 
which Solomon built, and the king's palace, and all the great 
houses in the city. And all the north part of the land, from 
Samaria to the mountains of Lebanon, had been conquered by 
the foreign kings of Assyria long before Jeremiah was born. 

The Hebrew people had become very wicked since the days 
of King David and King Solomon, and even in Jerusalem itself 
the Sabbath was broken by the people. The Jews have 
always been fond of making money, and they then had begun 
to trade, to buy and sell on the Sabbath day. 

How long after Isaiah lived did Jeremiah live ? 
What happened to Jerusalem and the temple during 
his life ? 

How were the Hebrew people different from what 
they were in the days of David ? 
Where did the Lord direct Jeremiah to go and stand to 
speak ? 

The gate of a walled city was the place where the people 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 189 

came together to talk, to hear the news, and to do business. 
It was some such public place as the post-office or market of a 
village or city now is. 

Was Jeremiah to go to more than one gate ? 
To what persons was Jeremiah to speak at the gates ? 

How is ' all Judah ' different from ' all the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem ' ? 

You can think how, as the prophet, who was well known in 
the city as a priest, began to speak, the crowd would increase 
by the side of the gate to hear him. 

Whose word did he tell the people to hear ? 

Jeremiah did not say that what he said was his own ad- 
dress, but was the word of the Lord. But our Saviour, when 
he spoke, did not say, 'Thus saith the Lord,' but, 'Verily, 1 
say unto you, and Whosoever doeth these sayings of minef etc. 

What does ' Take heed ' mean ? 

What two things, spoken of in the twenty-first verse, 
did he tell them to take heed to ? 

What was sometimes done to the gates so as to keep 
the Sabbath holy ? Eead Nehemiah xiii : 19. 
In what different way does he forbid the people to do busi- 
ness on the Sabbath, in the twenty-second verse ? 

Put the emphasis on the word any. Read in this way : 
Bear no burden on the Sabbath : do not carry it through the 
gates, the place of business ; do not carry it out of your houses, 
4 neither do ye any work.' 

Where was this command to ' hallow ye the Sabbath 
day ' given ? 

When was the Sabbath first given ? 

God commanded the people in Moses's time that they should 
not even gather the manna, the food which he himself sent on 
every day but the seventh, on the Sabbath day. 

Who ' obeyed not,' 'neither inclined their ear' ? 

What does 'made their neck stiff' mean? Answer. 



190 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

As an obstinate horse or mule sets his neck stiff and 
will not turn his head for the bit or bridle, so they 
would not let God lead them. 

Why did they wish that c they might not hear ' ? 

Does ' receive instruction ' mean receive instruction in 
respect to keeping the Sabbath, or receive instruction 
from the Scriptures on the Sabbath ? 

How did some of their fathers in Moses's time break 
the Sabbath ? Read Exodus xvi : 26-28. 
What does he promise shall come to pass if they keep the 
Sabbath ? 

Explain * diligently hearken.' 

4 The gates of this city ' : why did he not speak of 
other cities of Judah too ? 

Jerusalem was the capital, and what was done there by the 
kings and people would be an example to the whole nation. 

4 No work therein ' ; in what or in where ? 
you understand that the things which are to come to 
pass were to take place at the very gates of the city ? 

What a beautiful picture this is of the prosperity and favor 
which God will give them. Through these public gates, where 
the people gather, shall go kings who shall reign on David's 
throne, with their princes, in their chariots and on horses, with 
the procession of the people of the surrounding country and of 
the city inhabitants. The city shall be full of such happy 
times ! See how God loves the Sabbath when he makes such 
a promise ! 

What does he promise about the city itself ? 

The kings on David's throne shall always rule in Jerusalem 
to the end of the world. 

From what different places shall the people come to Jerusa- 
lem in those happy times ? 

The twenty-fifth verse is a picture of what will happen at 
Jerusalem : the twenty-sixth is a picture of the people coming 
from all parts of the land to Jerusalem. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 191 

In what direction from Jerusalem were * the cities ' 
of the tribe 'of Judah' ? 

1 The places about Jerusalem ' means the places near Jerusa- 
lem, like Jeremiah's city of Anathoth, two or three miles away. 

In what direction was the land of Benjamin ? 

What plain is meant by ' the plain ' ? Answer. Pro- 
bably the beautiful plain over the western mountains 
along the Mediterranean coast. 

Where were ' the mountains ' and what was there 'in 
the south'? Answer. The most mountainous part of 
the country was toward the north from Jerusalem, and 
' the south ' of the land was the more level desert and 
pasture country. 

What would all the people bring to Jerusalem ? 

Explain the different kinds of sacrifices mentioned. 
Find them in Leviticus. 
. Who built ' the house of the Lord ' ? 

God means that his holy day shall make gladness and re- 
joicing in all the cities and in every land where it is kept. 
How full of brightness these descriptions of these happy people 
who keep the Sabbath ! The holy Sabbath God wishes to be 
The Happy Sabbath. 

The reason why God thinks so much of the Sabbath and 
offers such promises for keeping it is because on the Sabbath 
all the people are taught every thing about him and his wor- 
ship. The Sabbath itself shows that God created the world 
and rested the seventh day ; that he gave his ten command- 
ments on Sinai, when he said, Remember the Sabbath-day to 
keep it holy ; that Jesus rose from the dead on the morning of 
the Sabbath-day. Where the Sabbath is kept, these three 
things are therefore always taught, that God is the Creator, 
Lawgiver, and Redeemer of mankind. Where the Sabbath 
is not kept, these things are not taught. 

But suppose the people do not listen to God's command, and 
break the Sabbath by buying and selling, what does God then 
promise to do ? 



102 THE SKNIOK YEAR. 



c 



speech or a literal prediction ? Read xlix : 27 and 
Amos i : 4, 7, 10, and 12. 

Were the palaces of Jerusalem actually devoured with 
fire or not ? Read IT. Kings xxv : 9. 

Did Jeremiah live to see them burned? Read Jere- 
miah Hi : 13. 

The reason why God punished the nation so severely for 
breaking the Sabbath was because breaking the Sabbath broke 
up his worship and broke up the religion which he had been at 
such pains to establish. 

Could the Christian religion be preserved in this nation if 
the Christian Sabbath should be destroyed ? 

Can the Sabbatn be a day of the highest happiness and 
gladness to you unless you are God's child ? 



Jfcrijr-Hcjljifj jsmnimj). 



THE WARNING TO THE WATCHMAN. 
EZEKIEL. 

CHAPTER XXXIIL 

1. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 

2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, 
When I hring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man 
of their coasts, and set him for their watchman : 

3. If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, 
and warn the people ; 

4. Then vrhosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not 
warning ; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon 
his own head. 

5. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning ; his blood 
shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 

6. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, 
and the people be not warned ; if the sword come, and take any person 
from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity ; but his blood will I 
require at the watchman's hand. 

7. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 193 

of Israel ; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them 
from me. 

8. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; 
if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked 
man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 

9. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it ; if 
he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but thou hast 
delivered thy soul. 

10. Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel ; 
Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and 
we pine away in them, how should we then live ? 

Who was Ezekiel and where did he live ? Read Ezekiel i : 3. 

We suppose that the prophet Ezekiel began to prophesy 
while Jeremiah was an old man. But Jeremiah was in Jeru- 
salem or near it, while Ezekiel was in Chaldea, somewhere near 
the river Euphrates and the city of Babylon. We suppose, 
too, that Ezekiel was one of the ten thousand captives who 
were carried off by King Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem to 
Babylon, just a little before he burned Jerusalem with fire. 

Compare the time and places where Ezekiel and Jere- 
miah lived. 
Does 'the word of the Lord come unto me' mean that God 
spoke these words unto him, or that he had a vision of what 
he was to do and say ? 

Can you give any reason why the Lord calls him * son of 
man ' ? 

By what people was he surrounded in Babylon ? 
Read iii : 11. 

i When I bring the sword upon a land' : does this 
mean that sometimes God himself brings war, or that all 
wars are brought on every land by him ? 

4 A man of their coasts ' : does this mean a man from 
the coasts of the sea ? 

When they set such a man for a watchman, what was 
it his duty to do ? Read II. Samuel xviii : 24-27 ; 
II. Kings ix : 17-20. 
What was meant by the watchman ' seeth the sword come 
upon the land ' ? 



194 TtlE SENIOlt YEAR. 

What was the sound of the trumpet a signal of? 
Read Numbers x : 9. 

Think of the responsibility of being a watchman on such a 
tower v and having the lives of all the people in your care, and 
of watching hour after hour all the day long against the enemy 
on this side and on that. 

A watch-tower in that Eastern land was sometimes built for 
the purpose of watching the movement of enemies. Some- 
times it was built on the city walls and sometimes on a hill. 
And by putting any man on the tower to be the watchman, 
the people showed that they trusted him. If the people of the 
country around knew the watchman was there, they could go 
to their vineyards and their farms to work. They knew no 
band of Arab robbers nor army of Philistines or Assyrians 
could come without the watchman seeing them and sounding 
the trumpet. 

Describe a person in the field ' who hears the sound of the 
trumpet and taketh not warning.' 

Explain ' if the sword come and take him away.' 
What is the meaning of 'his blood shall be on his 
own head' ? Read II. Samuel i : 16 ; Matthew xxvii : 25 ; 
and Acts xviii : 6. 

When a murderer kills a man, the blood of the man found 
on the murderer is a proof that he is guilty. But if a man 
takes his own life, his blood is on himself, and is a proof of his 
guilt in killing himself. 

Does this mean that, the enemy shall not be guilty ? 
How does the fourth verse show that the watchman shall 
not be guilty ? 

Describe how l he that taketh warning shall deliver 
his soul ' ? 
The two things for the watchman to do were to watch and 
to sound the trumpet. That is all he can do ) and after he had! 
done that, each man's duty is to take care of himself. 

Suppose the watchman does not sound the trumpet, who. 
then, is guilty of the death of any person ? 






THE SENIOR YEAR. 195 

Suppose the watchman should suddenly see an army or a 
band of robbers near him, and should be frightened and should 
run off to save his life without sounding his trumpet, then he 
would peril the lives of all the people. He has no right to 
save his own life by risking the lives of all the people. 

What is meant by any person 4 taken away in his 
iniquity ' f 

1 His blood will I require ' : who will require it ? 
How will he 'require it at the watchman's hand' ? 

In some cities, like New- York, there are high watch-towers, 
on which watchmen are put to watch for fires, and whose duty 
it is, when they see a fire, to ring a fire-bell telling in what part 
of the city the fire is. If they see a fire and ring the bell, tell- 
ing the part of the city where the fire is, then, if the people in 
that part of the city do not take care against the fire, the peo- 
ple will be to blame and not the watchman if their houses or 
their lives are lost. But if the watchman sees a fire and does 
not sound the bell, and some one is burned up, then the watch- 
man is to be blamed for it, for the people depended on him to 
watch for fires and to sound the bell for their warning. 

How, now, does God say that he had made Ezekiel a watch- 
man? 

What is meant by the house of Israel ? 
How was he to know when to warn the house of 
Israel ? 

A watchman against enemies or a watchman for fire had to 
depend on his own eyes to know when danger comes, but a 
watchman against the enemies of men's souls has God to tell 
him by word of mouth when the danger comes. 

What is meant by 'warn them from me' ? 
What was the warning which God gave Ezekiel for tha 
ricked ? 

When did God first say that whoever did wickedness 
should 'surely die' ? Read Genesis ii : 16, 17. 

If Ezekiel did not speak to the wicked, who would be 
guilty of the death of the wicked ? 



196 THE SENIOR YEAE. 

Does this mean that the wicked man would not be 
held guilty of his own wickedness ? 

The wicked man will die in his iniquity. That shows that 
he will be held guilty of his own sins and will be responsible 
for them. 

Is it meant that any one else besides Ezekiel is such 
a watchman ? 
How is the watchman to keep himself entirely free from 
guilt ? 

If God's servant now gives the warning from God 
and any one dies in his sins, who is guilty of it ? 

Is any one not a minister or a public teacher such a 
watchman as this ? 

What is it his duty to do ? 

Who are the people over which every person is to be 
a watchman ? 

Even though such persons die in their iniquities, how 
only can we deliver our souls ? 
Show the force of l Therefore ' at the beginning of the tenth 
verse. 

What did the captive children of Israel say ? 
What did they mean by i Jf our sins oe upon us 1 ? 
What did they mean by c pine away in them ' ? 

We must remember that Ezekiel was among captives and 
slaves, and they were overwhelmed with sorrow and oppres- 
sion. In the midst of their oppression and trouble, they 
were told that they were carried captive from Palestine because 
they were guilty of such great crimes against God. Almost 
in despair, they cry out : Well, if we are such great sinners, 
and are almost worn out with our sins and their punishment 
for them, what is the use of living ? we might as well die first 
as last. 

Does 'Thus ye speak' mean This is what you say in 
your hearts, or This is what you openly say in answer 
to God's reproof? 

What is the meaning, then, of 4 How should we then 
live'? 



THE SENIOR YEAK. 197 

Just so sometimes sinful men now say when the watchman 
sounds his alarm. Many a heart, almost in despair because it 
knew it was guilty and the soul that sinneth shall surely die, 
has said to itself: 'Well, if my sins be upon me, and I do pine 
away in them, how should I, why should I then live !' 

One of the great arts of Satan is to make men sin, and then 
make them wretched, and then make them think they are so 
rightly punished and so miserable that there is no use of 
wishing for the hope which God wishes to give them. 






Jmig-ninilj Sunfoag. 

EZEKIEL. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

11. Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in 
the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn from his way and live : 
turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of 
Israel ? 

12. Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, 
The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his 
transgression : as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall there- 
by in the day that he turneth from his wickedness ; neither shall the righte- 
ous be able tq live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. 

13. When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live ; if he 
trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousness 
shall not be remembered ; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he 
shall die for it. 

14. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die ; if he 
turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right ; 

15. If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk 
in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity ; he shall surely live, he 
shall not die. 

16. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto 
him ; he hath done that which is lawful and right ; he shall surely live. 

17. Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal : 
but as for them, their way is not equal. 

18. When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth 
iniquity, he shall even die thereby. 

19. But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is 
lawful and right, he shall live thereby. 



198 ^ THE SEKIOE YEAR. 

20. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, 
I will judge you every one after his ways. 

What was it, described in the tenth verse, which the Hebrew 
people said in answer to God's reproof of their sins ? 

What did God tell his watchman to say to them in their de- 
spondency ? 

What is the meaning of l As I live ' ? Answer. As 
surely as I am the living God, what I say to you is true 
and sincere. 

What a most wonderful assurance is this to the Hebrew peo- 
ple in Chaldea, and to all sinful people everywhere ! God tells 
his prophet to say to them, I, Jehovah, the living God, solemn- 
ly and sincerely say, As I am the living God, I have no plea- 
sure in the death of the wicked. 

When a person says what the Hebrew captives did, it was 
realty saying that God does take pleasure in the death of the 
wicked. But God says, I am not delighted with the death of 
the sinner, but I am delighted if he turns from his wicked way 
and lives. 

But is it God's pleasure that the wicked should live 
without ceasing to be wicked ? 
Explain 4 turn from his way.* 

God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but he does 
not say he has pleasure in the wicked living, unless they turn 
from their wickedness, for he cannot take back his command, 
The wicked shall -surely die. 

But how did God show that he wishes them to turn ? 

How does the last question of the verse show that 

they must die unless they turn ? 

It is as if he said, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for 

ye must die unless ye turn from them ; and why will ye die, 

house of Israel ? 

Notice now, again, the meaning of Therefore at the beginning 
of the twelfth verse : Because I have no pleasure in their death, 
and uecause they must die unless they turn, Therefore say unto 
the people, The righteousness of the righteous, etc. 









THE SENIOR YEAE. * 199 

What is ; righteousness ' ? 

1 Shall not deliver him ' : deliver whom and from 
what ? 

Explain ' the day of his transgression.' 

A righteous man, then, must always continue to be righteous 
and must never sin, if he would have God approve him and 
bless him. 

Name any righteous men mentioned in the Scriptures who 
were condemned in the day of their transgression. Read 
Genesis iii : 17-19; Numbers xx : 10-12; xxvii: 12-14; 
II. Samuel xxiv : 10-13 ; I. Kings xi : 9-11. 

How shall it be as to the wicked man if he turns from 
his wickedness ? Repeat Isaiah lv : 7. 

Name any wicked men mentioned in the Scriptures 
who were forgiven when they turned from their wick- 
edness. Read Luke xxiii : 40-43 ; Acts ix : 3-6. 
What does God mean when he says that the righteous shall 
surely live ? 

. What does 4 trust to his own righteousness' mean? 
Explain 'all his righteousness shall not be remem- 
bered.' 

The past righteousness shall not be reckoned to excuse his 
sin. If a person steals, he cannot say that because he has al- 
ways been honest before he ought not to be punished. Read 
xviii : 24. 

What does God mean when he says that the wicked shall 
surely die ? 

Can a wicked man do that which is lawful and right 
without being sorry for having done that which is un- 
lawful and wrong ? 
What three things are mentioned in the fifteenth verse which 
a wicked man who does that which is lawful and right will 

do? 

What was it to 'restore the pledge' ? 

When a rich man loaned money to a poor man, sometimes 
the poor man would give him his garment or his cow or mule, 
as a pledge that he would pay it back. The pledge was worth 



200 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

more than the money, and if the poor man did not come just 
at the time appointed with the money, the rich man might re- 
fuse to take the money and to give up the pledge. 

Explain * give again that he had robbed.' 

What was the law of Moses about returning what 
had been stolen ? Kead Exodus xxii : 1. 

What are 'the statutes of life,' and what is it to walk 
in them ? Kead chapter xx : 13. 

Show, from chapter xviii : 27, what is meant by ' live 
and not die.' 4 

What two reasons are given, in the sixteenth verse, why he 
shall surely live ? 

Who is it that says that he will not mention his sins 
unto him ? 

Would it be right for him, if he should choose to do 
it, to remember his past sins and punish him for them ? 

Can a wicked man become righteous without being 
sorry for his wickedness ? 

But why are we told in the New Testament that we 
must trust in the Saviour to be righteous in God's 
sight ? Ansicer. Because God has sent his Son for us 
to trust in, and to trust in him is one of the lawful and 
right things which he asks the wicked to do. 

Ezekiel lived almost six hundred years before the Saviour 
was born ; but any wicked man who was willing to turn from 
his evil ways and do that which is lawful and right would have 
been willing to accept and love God's Son if he had come then. 
And just so any heathen man now who is ready to turn from 
his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right will be 
all ready to believe in the Saviour whenever he learns who 
he is. 

4 Yet the children of thy people say ' : does ' Yet ' mean that 
the people still say this after what God has told Ezekiel to say 
to them, or does it mean, And yet this is what the people have 
said to themselves ? 

What is meant by 'The way of the Lord is not 



THE SENIOR YEAH. 



201 



equal ' ? Answer. This way of treating the wicked is 
not just. 

What is the meaning, then, of Their way is not 
equal ? 

Notice, now, how God repeats, in the eighteenth and nine- 
teenth verses, the same description of his way of treating the 
righteous and the wicked. As if he said, I cannot stop to dis- 
pute with you. 

^ Is not what the nineteenth verse says in respect to the 
righteous just and right ? 

* Suppose a man has always been truthful, and at some time 
he tells a lie, has he any right to say that he is not guilty of a 
lie because he has always been truthful before ? Suppose a 
man kills another, can he say, I am not guilty of killing, for I 
have never killed any one before ? 

Isn't it right, then, for God to hold each man to an 
account of every bad act ? 
Is not what the nineteenth verse says about the wicked just 
and right ? 

But what becomes of all the past sins of his wicked 

life? 

If God wishes to pardon, no one ought to say that he has 
no right to pardon. And if God pardons one wicked man who 
is sorry for his sins, what dreadful wickedness for another 
wicked man who is not sorry to say, God's ways are unjust, 
because he pardons that man and does not pardon me. 

What, after all, does God reply to the house of Israel in re- 
spect to their thoughts of his unjust way ? 

Does this show that he will judge the nation for its 
sins, or each person in the nation ? 

How will God judge each one at the last? Repeat 
what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes xii : 14. 



202 THE SENIOR YEAR. 



Jfiftxtfb Sitrtbmr. 

MALACHFS PREDICTION OF THE MESSIAH. 
H A L A C II I . 

CHAPTER IV. 

1. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and al 
the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble : and Hie day 
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall 
leave them neither root nor branch. 

2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise 
with healing in his wings ; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of 
the stall. 

3. And ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they shall be ashes under 
the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord ot 
hosts. 

4. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto 
him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 

5. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the 
great and dreadful day of the Lord : 

6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the 
heart of the children to their fathers, last I come and smite the earth with 

• a curse. 

There are sixteen prophets in the Old Testament, beginning 
with Isaiah. There are four of them called the Great Pro- 
phets : Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. The other 
twelve are called the Lesser Prophets. Malachi was the last 
of all these, and lived, we suppose, at Jerusalem. He lived 
about one hundred and fifty years after Ezekiel, and about four 
hundred years before Jesus was born. But the temple had 
been built again after Ezekiel died and before Malachi was 
born. 

The priests of the Temple in his time were corrupt and 
wicked men, and the people did not bring their offerings, as 
they used to do, according to the law. In the last two chap- 
ters, Malachi foretells the coming of John the Baptist and of tfao 
Saviour. In these lessons we have room only for the last 
chapter, but notice how this last chapter of the Bible speaks of 
two persons about whom the first chapters of the New Testa- 
ment begin. 

What does Malachi speak of in the last two chapters ? 



THE SENIOR YEAK. 203 

How can you prove that he speaks of John the Bap- 
tist ? Compare Malachi iii : 1 with Matthew xi : 10 ; 
Mark i : 2. 
What kind of a day did Malachi say was to come ? 

What day had he spoken of in the chapter before 
this ? See the second verse. 

Malachi says that a day is coming — that is, a time is com- 
ing — when the good and the bad shall be separated, the good 
priests and the bad priests, the good people and the bad peo: 
pie. In the third chapter and second and third verses he uses 
two figures to show how they shall be separated. He says the 
messenger of the Lord shall be like a refiner's fire, which puri- 
fies gold and silver, and in which the dross is burned up and 
the gold and silver come out more pure. He says, too, he 
shall be like a fuller's soap, which will show which garments 
can be washed clean and which cannot. The day which he 
speaks of is a Day of Separation. In the first and second 
verses of this chapter he says that day shall be like an oven to 
burn up the wicked and like sunrise to the good. 

How was John the Baptist like a refiner's fire and 
like fuller's soap ? Answer. His preaching was so 
strong and sharp that he compelled people to show which 
side they were on, whether they were among the good 
or among the bad. Read Matthew iii : 7-11. 

An oven in that land was a plastered hole in the ground, in 
which a fire was kindled to heat it, and the thin dough was 
baked by pasting it for two or three minutes against the hot 
sides of the oven. 

How were the proud and the wicked to be as stubble ? 
Stubble, straw, and sticks were used to heat the oven ; or 
after the oven was heated stubble thrown in would quickly 
wither and be consumed. 

Explain ' shall leave them neither root nor branch.' 
Read Amos ii : 9. 
The day cometh, that is, a time cometh. Perhaps he meant 
the whole time from the coming of John the Baptist to the 
destruction of Jerusalem after the Saviour was put to death. 



204 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

How did John the Baptist say that Jesus would sepa- 
rate the good from the bad ? Read Matthew iii : 12. 
But what shall come to pass to those that fear God's name ? 

How was Jesus the Sun of righteousness ? ■ Read 
Matthew iv : 16 ; John i : 9 and viii : 12. 

Show what the Sun of righteousness is in comparison 
with the darkness of sin and death. 

What is meant by the 4 wings of the Sun of righteous- 
ness ' ? 

At sunrise the beams of the sun spread out along the hori- 
zon like the wings of a bird, and then the sun, like a bird, be- 
gins his flight through the firmament. 

But how does the sun at sunrise have healing in his 
wings ? 

.Plants sicken and die if kept continually in darkness, and 
all the trees and plants of the world would sicken and die if 
night should continue. And ifj after they should have sick- 
ened and were ready to die, the sun should arise, there would 
be healing in his wings. All nature would begin to revive 
to health and beauty. 

Show how the Sun of righteousness arises with heal- 
ing in his wings to the world in sin. 

This same sun that would bring health to plants rooted in 

the earth would make the heavens like an oven to plants not 

rooted. 

4 And ye shall go forth' : who shall go forth ? 

What does * grow up as calves of the stall ' mean ? 
Answer. As calves grow fat and sleek in the stall, so 
shall ye be full of health, enjoyment, beauty, and pros- 
perity. 
Does l ye shall tread down the wicked ' mean put down the 
wicked by force, or does it mean your goodness shall triumph 
over the opposition of wicked men ? Compare Psalm xci : 13. 
Show how the last part of the verse shows the com- 
pleteness of the triumph. 

If you think of the progress of the Christian religion from 
the birth of Jesus until now, and then think of the Jews scat- 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 205 

tered among all the nations of the earth, and of the little power 
they have in comparison with the power of the Christian na- 
tions, how wonderfully have those that feared the Lord trod- 
den his enemies as ashes under the soles of their feet. 

Is it right to triumph over such enemies ? 
Is it right to put them down if they are willing to be- 
gin to fear the Lord ? 
* Remember ye' : who are ye ? 

"We should notice that these are the last words of the last 
prophet of the Old Testament, and that he tells now all who 
fear the Lord what to do. 

How much is meant by ' the law of Moses my ser- 
vant' ? Read Deuteronomy iv : 10-13. 

As there were to be no more prophets till the Messiah should 
come, it was necessary for them to pay close attention to the 
law of Moses. 

Do the t statutes and judgments ' mean something in 

addition to the law of Moses, or only smaller parts of 

that law ? Read Deuteronomy iv : 14 and Exodus xxi : 1. 

Why is the word 'Behold' used before the promise of the 

last two verses ? 

What is the promise ? 

How do we know that 'Elijah the prophet' meant 
John the Baptist ? Read Matthew xi : 11-14 and 
xvii : 10-13. 

Why is that day called great and terrible ? Answer 
Because it would be a day of great things to the good, 
and a terrible day to the wicked. 
Whether the day of the Lord means the day of the birth of 
the Saviour, or the day of his death, or the time of his life, it 
was a day of separation, when the refiner's fire would test who 
were silver and gold and w T ho were dross, when the fuller's 
soap would show who would be cleansed and who would not, 
when the proud and wicked would burn like stubble in the 
oven and those that fear the Lord would see the Sun of right- 
eousness with healing in his wings — a day great and terrible to 
the friends and foes of God. 



206 THE SENIOIl YEAR. 

' And he shall turn ' : who shall turn ? 

What is the meaning of 'turn the hearts' of father 
and children to each other ? Answer. Give them a true 
love for each other's souls throughout the world. 

4 Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse ' : why- 
should God smite the earth with a curse unless these 
things come to pass ? 

How did God once smite the earth with a curse, and 
for what ? Read Genesis vi : 5-8, 17, 18. 



if xffo -first Simbam 

REVIEW LESSON FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER OF THE YEAR. 

In what five books of the Bible have the lessons been the 
last quarter ? 

What two psalms have we studied ? 

The One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Psalm. 

What is the subject of the psalm ? 

Show the different ways in which David shows in the 
first five verses the omniscience of God. 

In how many ways does he imagine that he might 
try to escape God's knowledge ? 

Why are these thoughts of God's omniscience pre- 
cious to David ? 

What will the omniscient God do to the wicked ? 

What does David wish the omniscient God to do to 
himself? 

Is the thought of God's knowledge of you precious or 
disagreeable to you ? Why ? 

The One Hundred and Forty-eighth Psalm. 
What is this psalm ? 
How is it divided into two parts ? 
What are the words - Praise ye the Lord ' in Hebrew ? 
Name the different things called to praise God from 
the heavens. 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 207 

"What are the two reasons given why they should 
praise him ? 

Name the different things called to praise God from 
the earth. 

What are the two reasons given why they should 
praise him ? 

Can any one not God's child truly praise God with the 
praise of this psalm ? 
Isaiah's Invitation. 

Who was Isaiah and when did he live ? 

To whom is his invitation given ? 

To what is it an invitation ? 

Show how free the invitation is. 

Name any things which men labor for and spend 
money for which do not satisfy. 

What does God promise to those who incline their ear 
and come unto him ? 

What is meant by seeking the Lord ? 

Where are we to seek him ? 

What things are we to do when we seek him ? 

What does he promise us if we seek him in this way ? 

What reasons are given in the eighth and ninth verses 
why he will pardon ? 

Explain the figure of the rain and the snow. 

Show why it is not possible that this invitation is not 
intended for you. 

Jeremiah's Address on Keeping the Sabbath. 

Who was Jeremiah, and how long after Isaiah did he 
live ? 

Where did the Lord direct him to stand and to speak '? 

To what does he tell these people to take heed ? 

Yf hen did God command their fathers to hallow the 
Sabbath-day ? 

When was the Sabbath first instituted ? 

What was the punishment for breaking the Sabbath 
in Moses's time ? 

What does God promise them if they keep the Sab- 
bath ? 



208 THE SENIOR TEAR. 

Show how the prosperity and happiness of the nation 
are meant in the twenty-sixth verse. 

What does God mean that his holy day shall make 
in every land where it is kept ? 

Show as clearly as you can the reason why God 
thinks so much of the Sabbath and makes such large 
promises for keeping it ? 

What does God promise the people if they do not 
keep it ? 

Show clearly the reason why God punishes so severe- 
ly for not keeping the Sabbath. 

Can the Sabbath be a day of the highest happiness 
and gladness to you unless you are God's child ? 

The Watchman's Warning. 

Compare the time and place where Jeremiah and 
Ezekiel lived. 

What was the duty of a watchman ? 

Explain the whole figure in the first six verses by a 
fire watch-tower in New- York. 

How was Ezekiel such a watchman ? 

If God's servants have sounded the trumpet to you, 
who is guilty if you die ? 

What does God say to show that he has no pleasure 
in the death of the wicked ? 

Explain 'the righteousness of the righteous shall not 
deliver him in the day of his transgression. 7 

Explain ' the wicked shall not fall thereby in the day 
that he turneth from his wickedness.' 

If the wicked shall live when he turns from his wick- 
edness and does that which is lawful and right, why are 
we taught in the New Testament that we must trust in 
the Saviour in order to live ? 

Explain Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. 

Is it God that makes the difference between one who 
is saved and one who is lost, or man himself ? 

By what will God judge every person at the last ? 
Malachi's Prediction of Messiah's Day. 

How long before our Lord's day did Malachi live ? 



TJIE SENIOR YEAIl. 209 

Prove that Malacbi speaks of John the Baptist. 
What kind of a day does Malachi say was to come ? 
How was the coming of our Lord like an oven and 
like sunrise to the bad and the good ? 
Explain ' healing in his wings.' 

What special reason is there why Malachi should bid 
them remember the law of Moses ? 

How do we know that Malachi meant by Elijah the 
prophet John the Baptist ? 

How was it to be a great and dreadful day ? 
The day of Jesus the Messiah has already come. Has the Sun 
of righteousness risen to you, or is the day likely to prove to 
you like an oven ? 



REVIEW OF THE YEAR. 

What are the psalms ? 

How many psalms are there ? 

Show how and when David wrote one of them. 

Whom does the First Psalm describe ? 

How does he show the difference between the right- 
eous and the ungodly ? 

What will be the difference between them in the 
end? 

When was the Third Psalm written ? 

Describe the troubles of King David then. 

What was his shield against his troubles ? 

How did he expect to obtain salvation from his trou- 
bles ? 

What does the Nineteenth Psalm describe ? 

Which teaches more clearly the knowledge of God, the 
heavens or the Scriptures ? 

Which warns us of sin and promises us great re- 
ward? 

What shepherd wrote the Twenty-third Psalm ? 

What things does he show the Lord does for him as 
a shepherd ? 



210 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

Why shall we not want if we have Jesus for our 

Shepherd ? 

In the Twenty -seventh Psalm, what is the reason that 
David gives why he does not fear his enemies ? 

What is the one thing that he desires and seeks 
after ? 

What is the thing that prevented his fainting in the 
midst of his troubles ? 

How does David describe his desire for God in the 
Forty-second Psalm f 

Why was his soul cast down in him ? 

What is his remedy for discouragement and despon- 
dency of heart ? 

How does the Forty-sixth Psalm represent God as a 
help in trouble ? 

What is meant by the river which makes glad God's 
city? 

How is the triumph of God over enemies shown ? 

What is the Fifty -first Psalm f 

What is the one thing spoken of throughout the 
psalm ? 

What must we do to have our sins forgiven ? 

What must we have to keep us from further sin ? 

When we are delivered from sin, what will our tongue 
and our lips do ? 

When is it supposed that the Sixty-seventh Psalm was 
sung? 

Whom does it ask God's blessing upon besides 'upon 
us'? 

Why is it a glad thing that God judges the people and 
governs the nations ? 

What are the two parts of the Eighty -fourth Psalm ? 

What is meant by amiable tabernacles ? 

Show how ' they go from strength to strength ' to ap- 
pear before God. 

Why is { a day in thy courts better than a thousand ! ? 

Who wrote the Ninetieth Psalm? 

What is God called in this psalm ? 

How are God's life and man's life compared ? 



THE SENIOR YEAR. 211 

Why does God's wrath cut short man's life ? 

"What is it to have the beauty of God upon us ? 

How is the Ninety -first Psalm like the ninetieth ? 

From what things does he promise to protect us ? 

Do these things represent spiritual enemies or not? 

How does the psalm say we can have the long life 
and salvation promised in it ? 

What kind of a psalm is the One Hundred and Third ? 

Show how David represents the height of God's mere}*, 
the breadth of his forgiveness, the tenderness of God's pity. 

What does the One Hundred and Thirty -seventh 
Psalm commemorate ? 

How do you explain the prayer against Babylon in 
the last part ? 

What attribute of God does the One Hundred and 
Thirty-ninth Psalm describe? 

Give some of the ways in which David shows the om- 
niscience of God. 

Give some of the ways by which we might try to es- 
cape God's knowledge of us. 

What difference is there between the good and bad 
about wishing God to know all things ? 

What are the two parts of the One Hundred and Forty - 
eighth Psalm ? 

What are the reasons given why all these things 
should praise him ? 
What was the Song of Moses at the Red Sea ? 

How may you suppose this song to be like the son^ 
of Moses spoken of in the Revelation ? 
What was the one great command to be taught by the He- 
brews to their children ? 

Where were the parents to teach their children ? 

Is it right to give up teaching them at home because 
they are taught in Sunday-school ? 
Name as many of the things as you can which Solomon 
prayed for at the dedication of the Temple. 

What did he do after he had finished his pra} r er ? 
What was the question which Job and his friends had been 
discussing ? 



212 THE SENIOR YEAR. 

About what three things in the part of the address 
which we had did God question Job ? 

How does he show Job that he cannot understand 
how sin and suffering exist ? 
Repeat some of the proverbs of Solomon ? 

What seven things are an abomination unto God ? 
For what reasons does Solomon tell us in Ecclesiastes to re- 
member our Creator in youth ? 

What does he say is the conclusion of the whole 
matter ? 
What is it that God offers us through Isaiah's invitation ? 
Show the freeness of the invitation. 
When and how are we to seek the Lord ? 
What is promised us if we do seek him ? 
Where did Jeremiah speak to the people about keeping the 
Sabbath ? 

What are the reasons why God takes such pains to 
have the Sabbath kept ? 

What three greatest events in the history of the world 
are brought to mind by the coming of the Sabbath ? 
What did God mean by telling Ezekiel that he was a watch- 
man for the house of Israel ? 

After the watchman has done his duty, who is re- 
sponsible for escape from danger ? 
How are you to be watchman ? 
How are you to hear the alarm of the watchman ? 
What were the principal things which Malachi predicted ? 
Whom did he mean by Elijah ? 
How must the era of Christ's religion be either a 
great or a dreadful day to you ? 

Has the Sun of righteousness arisen to you with heal- 
ing in his wings ? 
All these psalms, songs, proverbs, and prophecies are de- 
signed to lead you on to the day of Christ. He has come, and 
you know and see what David and Moses and Job and Solomon 
and Isaiah and the prophets could not see. He comes to you 
to be your Saviour : how much greater is the blessing or the 
ruin which you choose for yourself. 



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